Aquificae overcomes competition by archaeal thermophiles, and crowding by bacterial mesophiles, to dominate the boiling vent-water of a Trans-Himalayan sulfur-borax spring.

ABSTRACT: Trans-Himalayan hot spring waters rich in boron, chlorine, sodium and sulfur (but poor in calcium and silicon) are known based on PCR-amplified 16S rRNA gene sequence data to harbor high diversities of infiltrating bacterial mesophiles. Yet, little is known about the community structure and functions, primary productivity, mutual interactions, and thermal adaptations of the microorganisms present in the steaming waters discharged by these geochemically peculiar spring systems. We revealed these aspects of a bacteria-dominated microbiome (microbial cell density ~8.5 × 104 mL-1; live:dead cell ratio 1.7) thriving in the boiling (85°C) fluid vented by a sulfur-borax spring called Lotus Pond, situated at 4436 m above the mean sea-level, in the Puga valley of eastern Ladakh, on the Changthang p

SUBMITTER: Mondal N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11508158 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature