Lignite coal burning seam in the remote Altai Mountains harbors a hydrogen-driven thermophilic microbial community.

ABSTRACT: Thermal ecosystems associated with underground coal combustion sites are rare and less studied than geothermal features. Here we analysed microbial communities of near-surface ground layer and bituminous substance in an open quarry heated by subsurface coal fire by metagenomic DNA sequencing. Taxonomic classification revealed dominance of only a few groups of Firmicutes. Near-complete genomes of three most abundant species, 'Candidatus Carbobacillus altaicus' AL32, Brockia lithotrophica AL31, and Hydrogenibacillus schlegelii AL33, were assembled. According to the genomic data, Ca. Carbobacillus altaicus AL32 is an aerobic heterotroph, while B. lithotrophica AL31 is a chemolithotrophic anaerobe assimilating CO₂ via the Calvin cycle. H. schlegelii AL33 is an aerobe capable of both

SUBMITTER: Kadnikov VV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5928048 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature