Bacterial and archeal community composition in hot springs from Indo-Burma region, North-east India

Abstract

Bacterial and archaeal diversity of two alkaline Indian hot springs, Jakrem (Meghalaya) and Yumthang (Sikkim), were studied. Thirteen major bacterial phyla were identified of which Firmicutes, Chloroflexi and Thermi were dominant in Jakrem and Proteobacteria in Yumthang. The dominant genera were Clostridium, Chloroflexus and Meiothermus at Jakrem (water temperature 46 °C, pH 9) and Thiobacillus, Sulfuritalea at Yumthang (water temperature 39 °C, pH 8) hot springs. The four Euryarchaeota taxa that were observed in both the hot springs were Methanoculleus, Methanosaeta, Methanosarcina and Methanocorposculum. Elstera litoralis, Thiovirga sp., Turneriella sp. were observed for the first time in association with hot springs along with Tepidibacter sp., Ignavibacterium sp., Teribacillus sp. and Dechloromonas sp. Individual bacterial phyla were found to be specifically correlated with certain physico-chemical factors such as temperature, dissolved SiO2, elemental S, total sulphide, calcium concentrations in hot spring water. Bacterial reads involved in sulfur cycle were identified in both16S rRNA gene library and sulfur metabolism may play key physiological functions in this hot spring. Members within Desulfobacterales and Thermodesulfovibrionaceae were identified and hypothesized their role in regulating sulfur cycle. The presence of many taxonomically unsolved sequences in the 16S rRNA gene tag datasets from these hot springs could be a sign of novel microbe richness in these less known hot water bodies of Northeastern India.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13568-016-0284-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Differences in Temperature and Water Chemistry Shape Distinct Diversity Patterns in Thermophilic Microbial Communities

“…In contrast, much lower values were obtained for a microbial mat collected at the same temperature in Qucai, China. In this case, the results were similar to those for samples CH46 and CH46r and to those from Jakrem, India (46°C) (89). These results highlight the need for extensive investigation on the microbial diversity issue using other environmental factors.…”

“…S4 in the supplemental material), which may reflect the environmental accumulation of free DNA (34). Interestingly, the microbial mat from Sungai Klah, Malaysia, had the ; India, SRS932137 and SRS932073 [89]; and Malaysia, PRJEB7059 [61]). Colors show the temperature measured at each sampling site, the shapes correspond to different nucleic acids, and the sizes are proportional to the pH values.…”

Bacterial diversity analysis of Yumthang hot spring, North Sikkim, India by Illumina sequencing

“…The other genus Thiobacillus can oxidise the sulfur to sulfuric acid and widely used as a pesticide against pest potato scabs [18]. Thiobacillus sp., belonging to phylum Proteobacteria observed as abundant, has been reported from Yumthang in an earlier study [19]. Three thousand seventy two V3 16S rDNA reads from the amplicon library share more than 97% identity with members of sulfate reducing Desulfomicrobium sp.…”

Thermophilic bacterial communities inhabiting the microbial mats of “indifferent” and chalybeate (iron‐rich) thermal springs: Diversity and biotechnological analysis

“…in thermal habitats has previously been described (Stainthorpe & Williams, ). In other settings, Panda, Bisht, De Mandal, and Kumar () has described the presence of Clostridium in Jakrem (Meghalaya), an alkaline Indian hot spring with water temperature of 46°C and pH 9 where it was present as one of the major genera. While its occurrence in swimming pools and spas has been associated with pathogenism (Martinez, ), other findings indicate that some species have been used for the simultaneous saccharification and fermentation of lignocellulosic biomasses (Stainthorpe & Williams, ) and, when such Clostridium was isolated from moderately thermal springs (50–60°C), it was found to be useful for production of ethanol and butyrate (Orlygsson, Sigurbjornsdottir, & Bakken, ).…”