Physico-chemical parameters and bacterial diversity in the Moroccan's Sebou River

The Sebou River is one of the most important rivers in Morocco. Located at the North West, it is subject to different stress conditions which make it a much polluted site. We analyzed different physico-chemical parameters (pH, redox potential, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, heavy metals and other elements concentrations) to determine the level of contamination at three sampling points located downstream from the industrial discharge near the city of Fès. We have combined denaturating gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) with rRNA-targeted oligonucleotide probes to investigate the microbial ecology of the river. DGGE analyses indicated that microbial diversity changed from the different sample sites; β-proteobacteria being more evenly distributed class of bacteria.