Staphylococcus sciuri Strain LCHXa is a Free-Living Lithium-Tolerant Bacterium Isolated from Salar de Atacama, Chile

Abstract

In addition to the industrial and biomedical applications of lithium, information on the tolerance of microorganisms to high Li concentrations in natural biological systems is limited. Strain LCHXa is a novel free-living Gram-positive, non-motile bacterium strain isolated from water samples taken at Laguna Chaxa, a non-industrial water body with the highest soluble Li content (33 mM LiCl) within the Salar de Atacama basin in northern Chile. Enrichment was conducted in Luria-Bertani (LB) medium supplemented with 1 M LiCl. Strain LCHXa was a Novobiocin-resistant and coagulase negative Staphylococcus. Phylogenetically, strain LCHXa belongs to the species Staphylococcus sciuri. Strain LCHXa grew optimally in LB medium at pH 6–8 and 37 °C, and it was able to sustain growth at molar Li concentrations at 2 M LiCl, with a decrease in the specific growth rate of 85%. Osmoregulation in strain LCHXa partially involves glycine betaine and glycerol as compatible solutes.

The Atacama Desert: A Biodiversity Hotspot and Not Just a Mineral-Rich Region

“…Not surprisingly, the Atacama has a relatively abundant microbial population at wetter habitats such as wetlands and non-fossil salars (salt flats with surface and/or underground liquid water inflows from rains and rivers, e.g., Salar de Atacama and Salar de Llamara). Many articles have shown the experience of research groups in isolation, culturing, taxonomy, metabolic capabilities, genomic studies and, biochemical characterization of individual microorganisms and microbial consortia from the Atacama (Cabrol et al, 2007 ; Rainey et al, 2007 ; Dorador et al, 2010 ; Gramain et al, 2011 ; Farías et al, 2014 ; Bull et al, 2016 ; Finstad et al, 2017 ; Castro et al, 2018 ; Santiago et al, 2018 ; Warren-Rhodes et al, 2019 ; Flores et al, 2020 ; Galetovic et al, 2020 ; Salazar-Ardiles et al, 2020 ; Shen et al, 2021a ; Vignale et al, 2021 ; Villalobos et al, 2021 ; among many other important reports). Microbial research has also been focused on the Atacama's habitats without any regular source of liquid water, such as soils, rocks, and fossil salars.…”

“…Bioprospection and analyses of microbiological, metagenomics and other studies on novel extremophiles and extreme-tolerant microorganisms from the Atacama have opened new biotechnological opportunities based on the search of novel secondary metabolites, genes, gene clusters, metabolic pathways, peptides, pigments, and macromolecules, with impacts in biomedicine, food and feed supplements, biological control and other activities (Rateb et al, 2011 ; Gonçalves et al, 2015 ; Gómez-Silva et al, 2019 ; Flores et al, 2020 ; Galetovic et al, 2020 ; Salazar-Ardiles et al, 2020 ).…”