Diversity of an uncommon elastic hypersaline microbial mat along a small-scale transect

PeerJ. 2022 Jun 20:10:e13579. doi: 10.7717/peerj.13579. eCollection 2022.

Abstract

We evaluated the microbial diversity and metabolome profile of an uncommon hypersaline elastic microbial mat from Cuatro Ciénegas Basin (CCB) in the Chihuahuan Desert of Coahuila, México. We collected ten samples on a small scale transect (1.5-m) and described its microbial diversity through NGS-based ITS and 16S rDNA gene sequencing. A very low number of taxa comprised a considerable proportion of the mat and were shared across all sampling points, whereas the rare biosphere was more phylogenetically diverse (Faith's Phylogenetic Diversity (FPD) index) and phylogenetically disperse (using a null model distribution of Phylogenetic Species Clustering (nmdPSC)) than the abundant (high read count) taxa for both analyzed libraries. We also found a distinctive metabolome profile for each sample and were able to tentatively annotate several classes of compounds with relevant biological properties.

Keywords: Cuatro Ciénegas Coahuila; Metabolome analysis; Microbial communities; Phylogenetic diversity; Rare biosphere.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • DNA, Ribosomal
  • Environment*
  • Mexico
  • Phylogeny

Substances

  • DNA, Ribosomal

Grants and funding

This research was supported by funding from Sep-Ciencia Básica Conacyt grant 238245, and PAPIIT IG200319 granted to VS and LE and IN222220 granted to MF. DGAPA-UNAM supported Anahi Martinez-Cardenas’s postdoctoral fellowship. There was no additional external funding received for this study. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.