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Abstract
With their circumneutral pH and their moderate temperature (66 and 68°C, respectively), As Burgas and Muiño da Veiga are two important human-use hot springs, previously studied with traditional culture methods, but never explored with a metagenomic approach. In the present study, we have performed metagenomic sequence-based analyses to compare the taxonomic composition and functional potential of these hot springs. Proteobacteria, Deinococcus-Thermus, Firmicutes, Nitrospirae, and Aquificae are the dominant phyla in both geothermal springs, but there is a significant difference in the abundance of these phyla between As Burgas and Muiño da Veiga. Phylum Proteobacteria dominates As Burgas ecosystem while Aquificae is the most abundant phylum in Muiño da Veiga. Taxonomic and functional analyses reveal that the variability in water geochemistry might be shaping the differences in the microbial communities inhabiting these geothermal springs. The content in organic compounds of As Burgas water promotes the presence of heterotrophic populations of the genera Acidovorax and Thermus, whereas the sulfate-rich water of Muiño da Veiga favors the co-dominance of genera Sulfurihydrogenibium and Thermodesulfovibrio. Differences in ammonia concentration exert a selective pressure toward the growth of nitrogen-fixing bacteria such as Thermodesulfovibrio in Muiño da Veiga. Temperature and pH are two important factors shaping hot springs microbial communities as was determined by comparative analysis with other thermal springs.
Highlights
Metagenomics has revolutionized microbial ecology, overcoming and complementing the traditional time-consuming culture methods
The dominance of a heterotrophic population of the genus Thermus in BW is related to the high abundance of organic compounds detected in this geothermal spring (González-Barreiro et al, 2009), while in Muiño da Veiga (MDV), there is a predominance of chemolithoautotrophy performed by the genus Sulfurihydrogenibium
Taxonomic and functional analyses showed that primary production in both hot springs is mainly driven by members of the genera Sulfurihydrogenibium, Hydrogenobacter, and Thermocrinis, which are sulfur and hydrogen oxidizers that can fix carbon using the reverse tricarboxylic acid pathway
Summary
Metagenomics has revolutionized microbial ecology, overcoming and complementing the traditional time-consuming culture methods. This approach has widely contributed to reveal the great microbial diversity of ecosystems previously thought to be lifeless and scarcely studied due to their irreproducible environmental conditions, such as hot springs. Previous studies have utilized comparative metagenomics to unveil the influence of physicochemical parameters in the diversity of thermophilic microbial communities inhabiting thermal springs (Menzel et al, 2015; Chiriac et al, 2017; Hussein et al, 2017; Sahoo et al, 2017; Mehetre et al, 2018). A significant role of temperature regulating the distribution of hot spring microbial communities was reported in the Tibetan Plateau Geothermal Belt (China) (Guo et al, 2020) and in Odisha (India) (Badhai et al, 2015). Contrariwise, Power et al (2018) studied 925 geothermal springs across New Zealand and determined that pH was the main factor influencing hot spring diversity at temperatures below 70◦C, while temperature had a significant effect on the microbial distribution at those hot springs with water temperature above 70◦C
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