Archaeal and bacterial diversity in acidic to circumneutral hot springs in the Philippines. Issue 3 (13th May 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Huang, Qiuyuan; Jiang, Hongchen; Briggs, Brandon R.; Wang, Shang; Hou, Weiguo; Li, Gaoyuan; Wu, Geng; Solis, Ramonito; Arcilla, Carlo A.; Abrajano, Teofilo; Dong, Hailiang
• Is Part Of: FEMS microbiology ecology. Volume 85:Issue 3(2013)
• Page Start: 452
• Page End: 464
• Publication Date: 2013-05-13
• Subjects: Microbial ecology -- Periodicals; Microbiology -- Periodicals; 579.17
• DOI: 10.1111/1574-6941.12134
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0168-6496

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" id="fem12134-abs-0001"> <title>Abstract</title> <p>The microbial diversity was investigated in sediments of six acidic to circumneutral hot springs (Temperature: 60–92 °C, pH 3.72–6.58) in the Philippines using an integrated approach that included geochemistry and 16S rRNA gene pyrosequencing. Both bacterial and archaeal abundances were lower in high‐temperature springs than in moderate‐temperature ones. Overall, the archaeal community consisted of sequence reads that exhibited a high similarity (nucleotide identity > 92%) to phyla <italic>Crenarchaeota</italic>, <italic> Euryarchaeota</italic>, and unclassified <italic>Archaea</italic>. The bacterial community was composed of sequence reads moderately related (nucleotide identity > 90%) to 17 phyla, with <italic>Aquificae</italic> and <italic>Firmicutes</italic> being dominant. These phylogenetic groups were correlated with environmental conditions such as temperature, dissolved sulfate and calcium concentrations in spring water, and sediment properties including total nitrogen, pyrite, and elemental sulfur. Based on the phylogenetic inference, sulfur metabolisms appear to be key physiological functions in these hot springs. <italic>Sulfobacillus</italic> (within phylum <italic>Firmicutes</italic>) along with members within <italic>Sulfolobales</italic> were abundant in two high‐temperature springs (> 76 °C), and they were hypothesized to play an important role in regulating the sulfur cycling under high‐temperature conditions. The results of this study improve our understanding of microbial diversity and community composition in acidic to circumneutral terrestrial hot springs and their relationships with geochemical conditions.</p> </abstract>