Comprehensive assessment of bacterial communities and their functional profiles in the Huang Gang Creek in the Tatun Volcano Group basin, Taiwan using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing

Jung-Sheng Chen; Hsin-Chi Tsai; Yu-Ling Hsu; Viji Nagarajan; Hung-Yuan Su; Bashir Hussain; Bing-Mu Hsu

doi:10.1016/j.ecoenv.2022.113375

Comprehensive assessment of bacterial communities and their functional profiles in the Huang Gang Creek in the Tatun Volcano Group basin, Taiwan using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing

Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 2022 Apr 1:234:113375. doi: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2022.113375. Epub 2022 Mar 9.

Authors

Jung-Sheng Chen¹, Hsin-Chi Tsai², Yu-Ling Hsu³, Viji Nagarajan⁴, Hung-Yuan Su⁵, Bashir Hussain⁶, Bing-Mu Hsu⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medical Research, E-Da Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
² Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Tzu Chi University, Hualien, Taiwan; Department of Psychiatry, Tzu-Chi General Hospital, Hualien, Taiwan.
³ Department of Nuclear Medicine, Ditmanson Medical Foundation Chia-Yi Christian Hospital, Chiayi, Taiwan.
⁴ Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, National Chung Cheng University, Chiayi, Taiwan.
⁵ Department of Emergency Medicine, E-Da Hospital and I-Shou University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; School of Chinese Medicine for Post Baccalaureate, I-Shou University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
⁶ Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, National Chung Cheng University, Chiayi, Taiwan; Department of Biomedical Sciences, National Chung Cheng University, Chiayi, Taiwan.
⁷ Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, National Chung Cheng University, Chiayi, Taiwan. Electronic address: bmhsu@ccu.edu.tw.

PMID: 35278991
DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2022.113375

Abstract

The microbial characteristics of water bodies located in the outflow of hot springs may affect the water quality parameters of the associated river ecosystem. Using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing, we investigated the bacterial diversity and functional profiles of the Huang Gang (HG) Creek, located in the trace metal-rich, acid-sulfate thermal springs zone of the Tatun Volcano Group (TVG). Biofilms and water samples were collected from the upstream, midstream, and geothermal valleys and downstream of the creek. The results showed that the biofilm and water samples had distinct bacterial diversity and abundance profiles. Acidophilic sulfur-oxidizing bacteria were found to be more abundant in water samples, whereas aquatic photosynthetic bacterial communities were dominant in biofilms. The water samples were contaminated with Legionella and Chlamydiae, which could contaminate the nearby river and cause clinical infections in humans. The upstream samples were highly unique and displayed higher diversity than the other sites. Moderate thermo-acidophiles were dominant in the upstream and midstream regions, whereas the geothermal valley and downstream samples were abundant in thermo-acidophiles. In addition, functional profiling revealed higher expression of sulfur, arsenic, and iron-related functions in water and lead-related functions in the biofilms of the creek. As described in previous studies, the hydrochemical properties of the HG Creek were influenced by the TVG hot springs. Our findings indicated that the hydrochemical properties of the HG Creek were highly correlated with the bacterial diversity and functional potential of running water as compared to biofilms.

Keywords: 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing; Bacterial abundance; Biofilms; Functional prediction; Hot spring drainage; Water.