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Comparison of Prokaryotic Diversity in Cold, Oligotrophic Remote Lakes of Chilean Patagonia

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Abstract

The prokaryotic abundance and diversity in three cold, oligotrophic Patagonian lakes (Témpanos, Las Torres and Mercedes) in the northern region Aysén (Chile) were compared in winter and summer using 16S rRNA fluorescence in situ hybridization and PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis technique. Prokaryotic abundances, numerically dominated by Bacteria, were quite similar in the three lakes, but higher in sediments than in waters, and they were also higher in summer than in winter. The relative contribution of Archaea was greater in waters than in sediments, and in winter rather than in summer. Despite the phylogenetic analysis indicated that most sequences were affiliated to a few taxonomic groups, mainly referred to Proteobacteria (consisting of Beta-, Alpha- and Gammaproteobacteria) and Euryarchaeota (mainly related to uncultured methanogens), their relative abundances differed in each sample, resulting in different bacterial and archaeal assemblages. In winter, the abundance of the dominant bacterial phylotypes were mainly regulated by the increasing levels of total organic carbon in waters. Archaeal abundance and richness appeared mostly influenced by pH in winter and total nitrogen content in summer. The prokaryotic community composition at Témpanos lake, located most northerly and closer to a glacier, greatly differed in respect to the other two lakes. In this lake was detected the highest bacterial diversity, being Betaproteobacteria the most abundant group, whereas Alphaproteobacteria were distinctive of Mercedes. Archaeal community associated with sediments was mainly represent by members related to the order of Methanosarcinales at Mercedes and Las Torres lakes, and by Crenarchaeota at Témpanos lake. Our results indicate that the proximity to the glacier and the seasonality shape the composition of the prokaryotic communities in these remote lakes. These results may be used as baseline information to follow the microbial community responses to potential global changes and to anthropogenic impacts.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants Fondecyt no 1100462 and Enlace VRID no 214.036.041-1.0.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology, Laboratory of Basic Microbiology and Bioremedation, University of Concepción, Concepción, Chile

    Paulina Aguayo, Paulina González & Miguel A. Martinez

  2. Research Centre for Extreme Environments and Extremophiles, Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences, University of Messina, V.le F. Stagno d’Alcontres, 31, 98166, Messina, Italy

    Paulina Aguayo, Víctor Campos, Teresa L. Maugeri, Maria Papale, Concetta Gugliandolo & Miguel A. Martinez

  3. Department of Microbiology, Laboratory of Environmental Microbiology, University of Concepción, Concepción, Chile

    Víctor Campos

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  1. Paulina Aguayo
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Correspondence to Concetta Gugliandolo.

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Aguayo, P., González, P., Campos, V. et al. Comparison of Prokaryotic Diversity in Cold, Oligotrophic Remote Lakes of Chilean Patagonia. Curr Microbiol 74, 598–613 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00284-017-1209-y

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