What different cultivatable soil bacterial species are there

[aaronj]

I'm writing a hypothetical lab and I decided to do it on soil bacteria. The problem is, I know nothing about them. I did some research but couldn't seem to find any lists of cultivatable bacteria that I could specifically name in my lab. Oh, and a species that lives in pH 6 soil would be nice to know, or just one that lives in a generally neutral pH level. I also wanted to know of some specific Actinomycetes. Thanks for any help! If this isn't responded to within the next hour and a half, don't bother because I will have turned in the lab already.

[mkwaje]

This is late, I know but I'll give some comments anyway. There are plenty of Actinomycetes in different types of soils. pH 6 soil can be found in a typical garden soil, even lower pH can even be found forest soil where a lot of detritus are decaying. Some free living Nitrogen fixer can be found in soil like Azotobacter. Rhizobium, which can fix nitrogen better can be found plenty in root nodules of leguminous plants. Some can be isolated in soil but, as I recall, they couldn't fix nitrogen when outside the nodules. Any of the Actinomycetes can be grown in the lab. You'll just have to wait for a long period of time, may take a week to see growth. Of course, you have to add antifungal agents (like Congo Red) coz surely your soil contains a lot of spores. Forest soil has a lot of these. You can also find Clostridium in soil if you feel like growing anaerobic bacteria.

good luck!