Abstract
The prokaryotic community composition, species diversity and the distribution patterns at various taxonomic levels in a salt lake (Chaka salt lake), solar salterns (Taipei saltworks and Dongfang saltworks), and salt mines (Yuanyongjing salt mine, Xiangyan salt mine, and Dinyuan salt mine) were investigated using clone library or Illumina MiSeq sequencing. The clone library approach revealed that the salt lake harbors low species diversity (H’ = 0.98) as compared to the solar saltern (H’ = 4.36) and salt mine (H’ = 3.57). The dominant group in the salt lake is a species from the genus Haloparvum which constitutes about 85% of the total sequences analyzed. The species diversities in salt salterns and salt mines are richer than in the salt lake, and the dominant group is less significant in terms of total percentage. High-throughput sequencing showed that geographical isolation greatly impacted on the microbial community (phyla level) and species diversity (operational taxonomic units (OTUs) level) of salt mines. Species of the genus Natronomonas are found in all three types of environments investigated. In addition, the microbial community and species diversity of different stratums of the salt mine are very similar. Furthermore, species of the genus Halorubrum flourish in the newest stratum of salt mine and have become the dominant group. This study provides some new knowledge on the species diversity and prokaryotic community composition of three typical hypersaline environments.
Highlights
Hypersaline environments are distributed all around the world [1] and are influenced by different environmental conditions, such as low temperatures as in the Deep Lake in Antarctica or relatively high temperatures as in the Dead Sea [2]
It was discovered that species diversity in the salt lake is the lowest of these three typical environments
High-throughput sequencing reveals that geographical isolation and buried depth accompanied by the variation of the environmental parameters may largely influence the species diversity and microbial community structure
Summary
Hypersaline environments are distributed all around the world [1] and are influenced by different environmental conditions, such as low temperatures as in the Deep Lake in Antarctica or relatively high temperatures as in the Dead Sea [2]. Numerous studies have revealed microbial diversity of different types of hypersaline environments, including salt lakes [3,4,5], solar salterns [6,7], and salt mines [8,9,10] using culture-dependent or culture-independent approaches. Ion composition and salt concentration have been proposed to be the main factors driving the microbial community structure in different salt lakes of the Tibetan Plateau [12]. Differing from the salt lake and solar salterns, the physicochemical traits of salt mines varied among stratums and buried depths with perennially stable ions compositions and salt concentrations. Variation of salt concentrations and ion compositions in different seasons will significantly change the composition of microbial communities. The culture-independent approach was considered a more powerful strategy in unveiling the microbial communities in different stratums of salt mines
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