Abstract
Parys Mountain or Mynydd Parys (Isle of Anglesey, United Kingdom) is a mine-impacted environment, which accommodates a variety of acidophilic organisms. Our previous research of water and sediments from one of the surface acidic streams showed a high proportion of archaea in the total microbial community. To understand the spatial distribution of archaea, we sampled cores (0–20 cm) of sediment and conducted chemical analyses and taxonomic profiling of microbiomes using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing in different core layers. The taxonomic affiliation of sequencing reads indicated that archaea represented between 6.2 and 54% of the microbial community at all sediment depths. Majority of archaea were associated with the order Thermoplasmatales, with the most abundant group of sequences being clustered closely with the phylotype B_DKE, followed by “E-plasma,” “A-plasma,” other yet uncultured Thermoplasmatales with Ferroplasma and Cuniculiplasma spp. represented in minor proportions. Thermoplasmatales were found at all depths and in the whole range of chemical conditions with their abundance correlating with sediment Fe, As, Cr, and Mn contents. The bacterial microbiome component was largely composed in all layers of sediment by members of the phyla Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Nitrospirae, Firmicutes, uncultured Chloroflexi (AD3 group), and Acidobacteria. This study has revealed a high abundance of Thermoplasmatales in acid mine drainage-affected sediment layers and pointed at these organisms being the main contributors to carbon, and probably to iron and sulfur cycles in this ecosystem.
Highlights
Parys Mountain (Parys Mt) or Mynydd Parys (Isle of Anglesey, United Kingdom) is an abandoned copper mine which contains abundant sulfidic deposits in the form of pyrite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, and galena minerals
Our earlier study on microbial assemblages in acid mine drainage (AMD) water and sediments taken from the surface of one of acidic streams of Parys Mt revealed that archaea dominated the microbial community (Korzhenkov et al, 2019)
The environmental conditions in Parys Mt sediment underlying the AMD stream determined the make-up of the microbial community with a large proportion of Thermoplasmatales archaea, which were abundant at various depths and sediment layers
Summary
Parys Mountain (Parys Mt) or Mynydd Parys (Isle of Anglesey, United Kingdom) is an abandoned copper mine which contains abundant sulfidic deposits in the form of pyrite, chalcopyrite, sphalerite, and galena minerals. Like other AMD systems, Parys Mt streams contain large concentrations of dissolved metals and metalloids which constantly flow into the Irish Sea resulting in marine pollution (Johnson, 2012). This site attracts continuous scientific interest, as reflected in the large number of studies and the identification of many new species of acidophilic bacteria and archaea (Johnson et al, 2014; Jones and Johnson, 2015; Golyshina et al, 2016b). Sediment C and N content was determined after oven-drying (105◦C, 24 h) using a TruSpec CN analyzer (Leco Corp., St Joseph, MI, United States). Ion chromatography (IC) was used to determine anion concentrations (F−, Cl−, NO3−, PO43−) in 1:10 (w/v) sediment: E-pure water (18 M resistance) extracts using a 930 Compact IC Flex (Metrohm, Herisau, Switzerland)
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