Population diversity and phylogeny of halophiles in the Qinghai Lake

Abstract

Qinghai Lake is the largest inland saline lake in China, but the diversity of halophiles within the lake remains unknown. We isolated 35 bacterial strains from different water samples in Qinghai Lake using an Oesterhelt-Stoeckenius medium (OSM). The majority of halophiles in this lake were moderate halophiles (grew at 0.4 to 3.5 M NaCl), accounting for about 62.9% (22 strains) of total bacteria, followed by the slight halophiles (22.9%, 8 strains) which could grow at 0 to 1.0 M NaCl, whereas the halotolerant (grew at 0 to more than 1.0 M NaCl) and nonhalophile (grew at 0 to 1.0 M NaCl) represented 11.4% (4 strains) and 2.9% (1 strain) of total bacteria, respectively. We investigated and analyzed the population diversity and evolution- ary relationship based on the 16S rDNA sequences. A total of 35 bacterial strains were sequenced, and ho- mology analysis showed that a majority was affiliated with γ-Proteobacteria and Bacilli, which accounted for 68.6% (24 strains) and 17.1% (6 strains) of total bacteria, respectively, whereas Actinobacteridae (3 strains), α-Proteobacteria (1 strain) and Eurotiomycetidae (1 strain) represented a small portion of total bacteria. Based on phylogenetics, 35 strains belonged to 14 different genera. Ten strains of Halomonas in the Oceano- spirillales were the most dominant species, whereas 4 strains of Marinomonas represented a minor species component. Overall, Halomonas was the dominant group of moderate halophile, which can likely be attrib-