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Volume 9, Issue 7

Metagenomic comparisons reveal a highly diverse and unique viral community in a seasonally fluctuating hypersaline microbial mat Open Access

Abstract

In spring 2016, a shallow hypersaline pond (50×25 m) was found in the Cuatro Cienegas Basin (CCB). This pond, known as Archaean Domes (AD) because of its elastic microbial mats that form dome-shaped structures due to the production of reducing gases reminiscent of the Archaean eon, such as methane and hydrogen sulfide, harbour a highly diverse microbial community, rich in halophilic and methanogenic archaea. AD is a seasonally fluctuating hypersaline site, with salinity ranging from low hypersaline (5.3%) during the wet season to high hypersaline (saturation) during the dry season. To characterize the viral community and to test whether it resembles those of other hypersaline sites (whose diversity is conditioned by salinity), or if it is similar to other CCB sites (with which it shares a common geological history), we generated 12 metagenomes from different seasons and depths over a 4 year period and compared them to 35 metagenomes from varied environments. Haloarchaeaviruses were detected, but were never dominant (average of 15.37 % of the total viral species), and the viral community structure and diversity were not affected by environmental fluctuations. In fact, unlike other viral communities at hypersaline sites, AD remained more diverse than other environments regardless of season. β-Diversity analyses show that AD is closely related to other CCB sites, although it has a unique viral community that forms a cluster of its own. The similarity of two surface samples to the 30 and 50 cm depth samples, as well as the observed increase in diversity at greater depths, supports the hypothesis that the diversity of CCB has evolved as a result of a long time environmental stability of a deep aquifer that functions as a ‘seed bank’ of great microbial diversity that is transported to the surface by sporadic groundwater upwelling events.

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Keyword(s): Cuatro Cienegas Basin , hypersaline environment , metagenomics , viral diversity and virome
Funding
This study was supported by the:
  • Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo (Award R-20F0009)
    • Principle Award Recipient: ValeriaSouza
  • Dirección General de Asuntos del Personal Académico, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (Award IN204822)
    • Principle Award Recipient: ValeriaSouza
  • Dirección General de Asuntos del Personal Académico, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (Award IG200319)
    • Principle Award Recipient: ValeriaSouza
  • Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (Award 814975)
    • Principle Award Recipient: AlejandroMiguel Cisneros-Martínez
© 2023 The Authors
  • This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. This article was made open access via a Publish and Read agreement between the Microbiology Society and the corresponding author’s institution.
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2023-07-17
2025-01-23
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Metagenomic comparisons reveal a highly diverse and unique viral community in a seasonally fluctuating hypersaline microbial mat
M Gen 9, 001063 (2023); https://doi.org/10.1099/mgen.0.001063
/content/journal/mgen/10.1099/mgen.0.001063
/content/journal/mgen/10.1099/mgen.0.001063
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