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Bacterial and archaeal diversity in two hot spring microbial mats from the geothermal region of Tengchong, China

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Abstract

We investigated the bacterial and archaeal diversity in two hot spring microbial mats from the geothermal region of Tengchong in the Yunnan Province, China, using direct molecular analyses. The Langpu (LP) laminated mat was found by the side of a boiling pool with temperature of 60–65 °C and a pH of 8.5, while the Tengchong (TC) streamer mat consisted of white streamers in a slightly acidic (pH 6.5) hot pool outflow with a temperature of 72 °C. Four 16S rRNA gene clone libraries were constructed and restriction enzyme analysis of the inserts was used to identify unique sequences and clone frequencies. From almost 200 clones screened, 55 unique sequences were retrieved. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the LP mat consisted of a diverse bacterial population [Cyanobacteria, Chloroflexi, Chlorobia, Nitrospirae, ‘Deinococcus-Thermus’, Proteobacteria (alpha, beta and delta subdivisions), Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes and Actinobacteria], while the archaeal population was dominated by methanogenic Euryarchaeota and Crenarchaeota. In contrast, the TC streamer mat consisted of a bacterial population dominated by Aquificae, while the archaeal population also contained Korarchaeota as well as Crenarchaeota and methanogenic Euryarchaeota. These mats harboured clone sequences affiliated to unidentified lineages, suggesting that they are a potential source for discovering novel bacteria and archaea.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the European Commission research program “Quality of Life and Management of Living Resources,” project Multigenome Access Technology for Industrial Catalysts (QLRT-2001-01972).

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  1. Eulyn Pagaling

    Present address: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, 2540 Dole Street, Holmes Hall 383, Honolulu, HI, 96822, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester, LE1 9HN, UK

    Eulyn Pagaling, William D. Grant & Shaun Heaphy

  2. Institute for Microbial Biotechnology and Metagenomics, University of the Western Cape, Bellville, Cape Town, 7535, South Africa

    Don A. Cowan

  3. Danisco Genencor, Archimedesweg 30, 2333 CN, Leiden, The Netherlands

    Brian E. Jones

  4. State Key Laboratory of Microbial Resources, Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China

    Yanhe Ma

  5. Department of Microbiology and Parasitology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Sevilla, 41012, Seville, Spain

    Antonio Ventosa

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Correspondence to Eulyn Pagaling.

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Communicated by A. Oren.

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Pagaling, E., Grant, W.D., Cowan, D.A. et al. Bacterial and archaeal diversity in two hot spring microbial mats from the geothermal region of Tengchong, China. Extremophiles 16, 607–618 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00792-012-0460-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00792-012-0460-1

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