Taxonomic diversity of bacteria from mangrove sediments of Goa: metagenomic and functional analysis

Uncovering potential mangrove microbial bioindicators to assess urban and agricultural pressures on Martinique island in the eastern Caribbean Sea

Martinique's mangroves, which cover 1.85 ha of the island (<0.1 % of the total area), are considerably vulnerable to local urban, agricultural, and industrial pollutants. Unlike for temperate ecosystems, there are limited indicators that can be used to assess the anthropogenic pressures on mangroves. This study investigated four stations on Martinique Island, with each being subject to varying anthropogenic pressures. An analysis of mangrove sediment cores approximately 18 cm in depth revealed two primary types of pressures on Martinique mangroves: (i) an enrichment in organic matter in the two stations within the highly urbanized bay of Fort-de-France and (ii) agricultural pressure observed in the four studied mangrove stations. This pressure was characterized by contamination, exceeding the regulatory thresholds, with dieldrin, total DDT, and metals (As, Cu and Ni) found in phytosanitary products. The mangroves of Martinique are subjected to varying degrees of anthropogenic pressure, but all are subjected to contamination by organochlorine pesticides. Mangroves within the bay of Fort-de-France experience notably higher pressures compared to those in the island's northern and southern regions. In these contexts, the microbial communities exhibited distinct responses. The microbial biomass and the abundance of bacteria and archaea were higher in the two less-impacted stations, while in the mangrove of Fort-de-France, various phyla typically associated with polluted environments were more prevalent. These differences in the microbiota composition led to the identification of 65 taxa, including Acanthopleuribacteraceae, Spirochaetaceae, and Pirellulaceae, that could potentially serve as indicators of an anthropogenic influence on the mangrove sediments of Martinique Island.

Untapped rich microbiota of mangroves of Pakistan: diversity and community compositions

The mangrove ecosystem is the world's fourth most productive ecosystem in terms of service value and offering rich biological resources. Microorganisms play vital roles in these ecological processes, thus researching the mangroves-microbiota is crucial for a deeper comprehension of mangroves dynamics. Amplicon sequencing that targeted V4 region of 16S rRNA gene was employed to profile the microbial diversities and community compositions of 19 soil samples, which were collected from the rhizosphere of 3 plant species (i.e., Avicennia marina, Ceriops tagal, and Rhizophora mucronata) in the mangrove forests of Lasbela coast, Pakistan. A total of 67 bacterial phyla were observed from three mangroves species, and these taxa were classified into 188 classes, 453 orders, 759 families, and 1327 genera. We found that Proteobacteria (34.9-38.4%) and Desulfobacteria (7.6-10.0%) were the dominant phyla followed by Chloroflexi (6.6-7.3%), Gemmatimonadota (5.4-6.8%), Bacteroidota (4.3-5.5%), Planctomycetota (4.4-4.9%) and Acidobacteriota (2.7-3.4%), Actinobacteriota (2.5-3.3%), and Crenarchaeota (2.5-3.3%). After considering the distribution of taxonomic groups, we prescribe that the distinctions in bacterial community composition and diversity are ascribed to the changes in physicochemical attributes of the soil samples (i.e., electrical conductivity (ECe), pH, total organic matter (OM), total organic carbon (OC), available phosphorus (P), and extractable potassium (CaCO3). The findings of this study indicated a high-level species diversity in Pakistani mangroves. The outcomes may also aid in the development of effective conservation policies for mangrove ecosystems, which have been hotspots for anthropogenic impacts in Pakistan. To our knowledge, this is the first microbial research from a Pakistani mangrove forest.

Diversity and Bioprospection of Gram-positive Bacteria Derived from a Mayan Sinkhole

Water-filled sinkholes known locally as cenotes, found on the Yucatán Peninsula, have remarkable biodiversity. The primary objective of this study was to explore the biotechnological potential of Gram-positive cultivable bacteria obtained from sediment samples collected at the coastal cenote Pol-Ac in Yucatán, Mexico. Specifically, the investigation aimed to assess production of hydrolytic enzymes and antimicrobial compounds. 16 S rRNA gene sequencing led to the identification of 49 Gram-positive bacterial isolates belonging to the phyla Bacillota (n = 29) and Actinomycetota (n = 20) divided into the common genera Bacillus and Streptomyces, as well as the genera Virgibacillus, Halobacillus, Metabacillus, Solibacillus, Neobacillus, Rossellomorea, Nocardiopsis and Corynebacterium. With growth at 55ºC, 21 of the 49 strains were classified as moderately thermotolerant. All strains were classified as halotolerant and 24 were dependent on marine water for growth. Screening for six extracellular hydrolytic enzymes revealed gelatinase, amylase, lipase, cellulase, protease and chitinase activities in 93.9%, 67.3%, 63.3%, 59.2%, 59.2% and 38.8%, of isolated strains, respectively. The genes for polyketide synthases type I, were detected in 24 of the strains. Of 18 strains that achieved > 25% inhibition of growth in the bacterial pathogen Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538, 4 also inhibited growth in Escherichia coli ATCC 35,218. Isolates Streptomyces sp. NCA_378 and Bacillus sp. NCA_374 demonstrated 50-75% growth inhibition against at least one of the two pathogens tested, along with significant enzymatic activity across all six extracellular enzymes. This is the first comprehensive report on the biotechnological potential of Gram-positive bacteria isolated from sediments in the cenotes of the Yucatán Peninsula.

Geographical distribution of mobile genetic elements in microbial communities along the Yucatan coast

Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is a well-documented strategy used by bacteria to enhance their adaptability to challenging environmental conditions. Through HGT, a group of conserved genetic elements known as mobile genetic elements (MGEs) is disseminated within bacterial communities. MGEs offer numerous advantages to the host, increasing its fitness by acquiring new functions that help bacteria contend with adverse conditions, including exposure to heavy metal and antibiotics. This study explores MGEs within microbial communities along the Yucatan coast using a metatranscriptomics approach. Prior to this research, nothing was known about the coastal Yucatan's microbial environmental mobilome and HGT processes between these bacterial communities. This study reveals a positive correlation between MGEs and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) along the Yucatan coast, with higher MGEs abundance in more contaminated sites. The Proteobacteria and Firmicutes groups exhibited the highest number of MGEs. It's important to highlight that the most abundant classes of MGEs might not be the ones most strongly linked to ARGs, as observed for the recombination/repair class. This work presents the first geographical distribution of the environmental mobilome in Yucatan Peninsula mangroves.

Analogous assembly mechanisms and functional guilds govern prokaryotic communities in mangrove ecosystems of China and South America

As an important coastal "blue carbon sink," mangrove ecosystems contain microbial communities with an as-yet-unknown high species diversity. Exploring the assemblage and structure of sediment microbial communities therein can aid in a better understanding of their ecosystem functioning, such as carbon sequestration and other biogeochemical cycles in mangrove wetlands. However, compared to other biomes, the study of mangrove sediment microbiomes is limited, especially in diverse mangrove ecosystems at a large spatial scale, which may harbor microbial communities with distinct compositions and functioning. Here, we analyzed 380 sediment samples from 13 and 8 representative mangrove ecosystems, respectively, in China and South America and compared their microbial features. Although the microbial community compositions exhibited strong distinctions, the community assemblage in the two locations followed analogous patterns: the assemblages of the entire community, abundant taxa, rare taxa, and generalists were predominantly driven by stochastic processes with significant distance-decay patterns, while the assembly of specialists was more likely related to the behaviors of other organisms in or surrounding the mangrove ecosystems. In addition, co-occurrence and topological network analysis of mangrove sediment microbiomes underlined the dominance of sulfate-reducing prokaryotes in both the regions. Moreover, we found that more than 70% of the keystone and hub taxa were sulfate-reducing prokaryotes, implying their important roles in maintaining the linkage and stability of the mangrove sediment microbial communities. This study fills a gap in the large-scale analysis of microbiome features covering distantly located and diverse mangrove ecosystems. Here, we propose a suggestion to the Mangrove Microbiome Initiative that 16S rRNA sequencing protocols should be standardized with a unified primer to facilitate the global-scale analysis of mangrove microbiomes and further comparisons with the reference data sets from other biomes.IMPORTANCEMangrove wetlands are important ecosystems possessing valuable ecological functions for carbon storage, species diversity maintenance, and coastline stabilization. These functions are greatly driven or supported by microorganisms that make essential contributions to biogeochemical cycles in mangrove ecosystems. The mechanisms governing the microbial community assembly, structure, and functions are vital to microbial ecology but remain unclear. Moreover, studying these mechanisms of mangrove microbiomes at a large spatial scale can provide a more comprehensive insight into their universal features and can help untangle microbial interaction patterns and microbiome functions. In this study, we compared the mangrove microbiomes in a large spatial range and found that the assembly patterns and key functional guilds of the Chinese and South American mangrove microbiomes were analogous. The entire communities exhibited significant distance-decay patterns and were strongly governed by stochastic processes, while the assemblage of specialists may be merely associated with the behaviors of the organisms in mangrove ecosystems. Furthermore, our results highlight the dominance of sulfate-reducing prokaryotes in mangrove microbiomes and their key roles in maintaining the stability of community structure and functions.

Effects of Degradation on Microbial Communities of an Amazonian Mangrove

Mangroves provide a unique ecological environment for complex microbial communities, which play important roles in biogeochemical cycles, such as those for carbon, sulfur, and nitrogen. Microbial diversity analyses of these ecosystems help us understand the changes caused by external influences. Amazonian mangroves occupy an area of 9000 km², corresponding to 70% of the mangroves in Brazil, on which studies of microbial biodiversity are extremely scarce. The present study aimed to determine changes in microbial community structure along the PA-458 highway, which fragmented a mangrove zone. Mangrove samples were collected from three zones, (i) degraded, (ii) in the process of recovery, and (iii) preserved. Total DNA was extracted and submitted for 16S rDNA amplification and sequencing on an MiSeq platform. Subsequently, reads were processed for quality control and biodiversity analyses. The most abundant phyla were Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Bacteroidetes in all three mangrove locations, but in significantly different proportions. We observed a considerable reduction in diversity in the degraded zone. Important genera involved in sulfur, carbon, and nitrogen metabolism were absent or dramatically reduced in this zone. Our results show that human impact in the mangrove areas, caused by the construction of the PA-458 highway, has resulted in a loss of biodiversity.

Bioactive molecules from haloarchaea: Scope and prospects for industrial and therapeutic applications

Marine environments and salty inland ecosystems encompass various environmental conditions, such as extremes of temperature, salinity, pH, pressure, altitude, dry conditions, and nutrient scarcity. The extremely halophilic archaea (also called haloarchaea) are a group of microorganisms requiring high salt concentrations (2–6 M NaCl) for optimal growth. Haloarchaea have different metabolic adaptations to withstand these extreme conditions. Among the adaptations, several vesicles, granules, primary and secondary metabolites are produced that are highly significant in biotechnology, such as carotenoids, halocins, enzymes, and granules of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs). Among halophilic enzymes, reductases play a significant role in the textile industry and the degradation of hydrocarbon compounds. Enzymes like dehydrogenases, glycosyl hydrolases, lipases, esterases, and proteases can also be used in several industrial procedures. More recently, several studies stated that carotenoids, gas vacuoles, and liposomes produced by haloarchaea have specific applications in medicine and pharmacy. Additionally, the production of biodegradable and biocompatible polymers by haloarchaea to store carbon makes them potent candidates to be used as cell factories in the industrial production of bioplastics. Furthermore, some haloarchaeal species can synthesize nanoparticles during heavy metal detoxification, thus shedding light on a new approach to producing nanoparticles on a large scale. Recent studies also highlight that exopolysaccharides from haloarchaea can bind the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. This review explores the potential of haloarchaea in the industry and biotechnology as cellular factories to upscale the production of diverse bioactive compounds.

Bacterial diversity in the aquatic system in India based on metagenome analysis-a critical review

Microbial analysis has become one of the most critical areas in aquatic ecology and a crucial component for assessing the contribution of microbes in food web dynamics and biogeochemical processes. Initial research was focused on estimating the abundance and distribution of the microbes using microscopy and culture-based analysis, which are undoubtedly complex tasks. Over the past few decades, microbiologists have endeavored to apply and extend molecular techniques to address pertinent questions related to the function and metabolism of microbes in aquatic ecology. Metagenomics analysis has revolutionized aquatic ecology studies involving the investigation of the genome of a mixed community of organisms in an ecosystem to identify microorganisms, their functionality, and the discovery of novel proteins. This review discusses the metagenomics analysis of bacterial diversity in and around different aquatic systems in India.

Sediment microbial community structure associated to different ecological types of mangroves in Celestún, a coastal lagoon in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico

Mangroves are unique coastal ecosystems, which have many important ecological functions, as they are a reservoir of many marine species well adapted to saline conditions and are fundamental as sites of carbon storage. Although the microbial contribution to nutrient cycling in these ecosystems has been well recognized, there is a lack of information regarding the microbial composition and structure of different ecological types of mangrove forests. In this study, we characterized the microbial community (Bacteria and Archaea) in sediments associated with five ecological types of mangrove forests in a coastal lagoon dominated by Avicennia germinans and Rhizophora mangle, through 16S rRNA-V4 gene sequencing. Overall, Proteobacteria (51%), Chloroflexi (12%), Gemmatimonadetes (5%) and Planctomycetes (6%) were the most abundant bacterial phyla, while Thaumarchaeota (30%), Bathyarchaeota (21%) and Nanoarchaeaeota (18%) were the dominant archaeal phyla. The microbial composition associated with basin mangroves dominated by Avicennia germinans was significantly different from the other ecological types, which becomes relevant for restoration strategies.

A shotgun approach to explore the bacterial diversity and a brief insight into the glycoside hydrolases of Samiti lake located in the Eastern Himalayas

BACKGROUND

The Himalayas have always been an enigma and, being biodiversity hotspots, are considered extremely important from an ecological point of view. Recent advances in studies regarding high-altitude lakes have garnered relevant importance as these habitats could harbor potential psychrophilic and psychrotrophic microbes with bio-prospective applications. Contemplating the above scenario, the present study has been undertaken to understand the diversity and the functional capacities of the microbes thriving in this lake.

RESULTS

In our present study on Samiti Lake, the abundance of Proteobacteria as the major phylum was seen in both the soil and water samples. Incase of the ABSLW (water) and ABS1 (soil) sample, 148,066 and 239,754 predicted genes, were taken for functional analysis. The KEGG analysis showed that ABSLW and ABS1 had 122,911 and 160,268, genes assigned to KO terms respectively. Whereas in case of COG functional analysis, 104,334 and 130,191 genes were assigned to different COG classes for ABSLW and ABS1 respectively. Further, on studying the glycoside hydrolases, an abundance of GH13, GH2, GH3, GH43, and GH23 in both the soil and water samples were seen.

CONCLUSION

Our study has provided a comprehensive report about the bacterial diversity and functional capacities of microbes thriving in Samiti Lake.  It has also thrown some light on the occurrence of glycoside hydrolases in this region, as they have numerous biotechnological applications in different sectors.

Temperature drives the assembly of Bacillus community in mangrove ecosystem

Mangroves are located at the interface of terrestrial and marine environments, and experience fluctuating conditions, creating a need to better explore the relative role of the bacterial community. Bacillus has been reported to be the dominant group in the mangrove ecosystem and plays a key role in maintaining the biodiversity and function of the mangrove ecosystem. However, studies on bacterial and Bacillus community across four seasons in the mangrove ecosystem are scarce. Here, we employed seasonal large-scale sediment samples collected from the mangrove ecosystem in southeastern China and utilized 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing to reveal bacterial and Bacillus community structure changes across seasons. Compared with the whole bacterial community, we found that Bacillus community was greatly affected by season (temperature) rather than site. The key factors, NO₃-N and NH₄-N showed opposite interaction with superabundant taxa Bacillus taxa (SAT) and three rare Bacillus taxa including high rare taxa (HRT), moderate rare taxa (MRT) and low rare taxa (LRT). Network analysis suggested the co-occurrence of Bacillus community and Bacillus-bacteria, and revealed SAT had closer relationship compared with rare Bacillus taxa. HRT might act crucial response during the temperature decreasing process across seasons. This study fills a gap in addressing the assembly of Bacillus community and their role in maintaining microbial diversity and function in mangrove ecosystem.

Microbial diversity and ecological interactions of microorganisms in the mangrove ecosystem: Threats, vulnerability, and adaptations

Mangroves are among the world's most productive ecosystems and a part of the "blue carbon" sink. They act as a connection between the terrestrial and marine ecosystems, providing habitat to countless organisms. Among these, microorganisms (e.g., bacteria, archaea, fungi, phytoplankton, and protozoa) play a crucial role in this ecosystem. Microbial cycling of major nutrients (carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, and sulfur) helps maintain the high productivity of this ecosystem. However, mangrove ecosystems are being disturbed by the increasing concentration of greenhouse gases within the atmosphere. Both the anthropogenic and natural factors contribute to the upsurge of greenhouse gas concentration, resulting in global warming. Changing climate due to global warming and the increasing rate of human interferences such as pollution and deforestation are significant concerns for the mangrove ecosystem. Mangroves are susceptible to such environmental perturbations. Global warming, human interventions, and its consequences are destroying the ecosystem, and the dreadful impacts are experienced worldwide. Therefore, the conservation of mangrove ecosystems is necessary for protecting them from the changing environment-a step toward preserving the globe for better living. This review highlights the importance of mangroves and their microbial components on a global scale and the degree of vulnerability of the ecosystems toward anthropic and climate change factors. The future scenario of the mangrove ecosystem and the resilience of plants and microbes have also been discussed.

Genes associated with antibiotic tolerance and synthesis of antimicrobial compounds in a mangrove with contrasting salinities

Salinity and wastewater pollution in mangrove ecosystems can affect microorganisms and the abundance of genes involved in response to these stressors. This research aimed to identify genes associated with resistance and biosynthesis of antimicrobial compounds in mangrove soils subjected to contrasting salinities and wastewater pollution. Samples of rhizospheric soil were taken from a mangrove at the mouth of the Ranchería River in La Guajira, Colombia. A functional analysis was performed using Illumina HiSeq 2500 sequencing data obtained from total DNA extracted. Increased salt concentration influenced metabolic pathways and differential abundance of genes associated with the synthesis of antimicrobial compounds (e.g., rfbB/rffG, INO1/ISYNA1, rfbA/rffH, sat/met3, asd). Also, among 33 genes involved in intrinsic antibiotic resistance, 16 were significantly influenced by salinity (e.g., cusR/copR/silR, vgb, tolC). We concluded that salt stress tolerance and adaptive mechanisms could favor the biosynthesis of antimicrobial compounds in mangroves contaminated by sewage.

16S rRNA gene profiling of rhizospheric microbial community of Eichhornia crassipes

The rhizosphere of a plant is an important interface for the plant-microbe interaction that plays a significant role in the uptake and removal of heavy metal from contaminated sites. Eichhornia crassipes is a free-floating macrophyte and a well-known metal hyperaccumulator. It is a promising plant, which harbors a diverse microbial community in its rhizosphere. Therefore it is hypothesized that it can be a good habitat for microorganisms that supports plant growth and increases its phytoremediation potential. The rhizospheric DNA was extracted from the procured plant samples. The library was prepared and sequenced using the Illumina platform. 16S rRNA data from the Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) platform was analyzed using the QIIME software package. Alpha diversity was estimated from statistical indices i.e. Shannon index, Chao1 index, and observed species. The rarefaction plots, rank abundance curve, krona graph, and heat map were generated to study the rhizospheric community in detail. Metagenome consisted of 225,408 flash reads, 185,008 non-chimeric sequences with 17,578 Operational Taxonomic Units (OTU's), and 4622 OTU's without singletons. The data of present study are available at NCBI Bioproject (PRJNA631882). The taxonomic analysis of OTU's showed that the sequences belonged to major Phyla revealing the dominance of Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Cyanobacteria, and Verrucomicrobia. The most abundant Genera in the sampled rhizosphere recorded were Thiothrix and Flavobacterium.

Kaustia mangrovi gen. nov., sp. nov. isolated from Red Sea mangrove sediments belongs to the recently proposed Parvibaculaceae family within the order Rhizobiales

We isolated a novel strain, R1DC25T, described as Kaustia mangrovi gen. nov. sp. nov. from the sediments of a mangrove forest on the coast of the Red Sea in Saudi Arabia. This isolate is a moderately halophilic, aerobic/facultatively anaerobic Gram-stain-negative bacterium showing optimum growth at between 30 and 40 °C, at a pH of 8.5 and with 3-5 % NaCl. The genome of R1DC25T comprises a circular chromosome that is 4 630 536 bp in length, with a DNA G+C content of 67.3 mol%. Phylogenetic analyses based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence and whole-genome multilocus sequence analysis of 120 concatenated single-copy genes revealed that R1DC25T represents a distinct lineage within the family Parvibaculaceae in the order Rhizobiales within the class Alphaproteobacteria. R1DC25T showing 95.8, 95.3 and 94.5 % 16S rRNA gene sequence identity with Rhodoligotrophos appendicifer, Rhodoligotrophos jinshengii and Rhodoligotrophos defluvii, respectively. The predominant quinone was Q-10, and the polar lipids were phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylcholine, diphosphatidylglycerol, as well as several distinct aminolipids and lipids. The predominant cellular fatty acids were C19 : 0 cyclo ω8c, a combination of C18 : 1ω7c and/or C18 : 1ω6c and C16 : 0. On the basis of the differences in the phenotypic, physiological and biochemical characteristics from its known relatives and the results of our phylogenetic analyses, R1DC25T (=KCTC 72348T;=JCM 33619T;=NCCB 100699T) is proposed to represent a novel species in a novel genus, and we propose the name Kaustia mangrovi gen. nov., sp. nov. (Kaustia, subjective name derived from the abbreviation KAUST for King Abdullah University of Science and Technology; mangrovi, of a mangrove).

Comparing Sediment Microbiomes in Contaminated and Pristine Wetlands along the Coast of Yucatan

Microbial communities are important players in coastal sediments for the functioning of the ecosystem and the regulation of biogeochemical cycles. They also have great potential as indicators of environmental perturbations. To assess how microbial communities can change their composition and abundance along coastal areas, we analyzed the composition of the microbiome of four locations of the Yucatan Peninsula using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. To this end, sediment from two conserved (El Palmar and Bocas de Dzilam) and two contaminated locations (Sisal and Progreso) from the coast northwest of the Yucatan Peninsula in three different years, 2017, 2018 and 2019, were sampled and sequenced. Microbial communities were found to be significantly different between the locations. The most noticeable difference was the greater relative abundance of Planctomycetes present at the conserved locations, versus FBP group found with greater abundance in contaminated locations. In addition to the difference in taxonomic groups composition, there is a variation in evenness, which results in the samples of Bocas de Dzilam and Progreso being grouped separately from those obtained in El Palmar and Sisal. We also carry out the functional prediction of the metabolic capacities of the microbial communities analyzed, identifying differences in their functional profiles. Our results indicate that landscape of the coastal microbiome of Yucatan sediment shows changes along the coastline, reflecting the constant dynamics of coastal environments and their impact on microbial diversity.

Metagenomic analysis exploring taxonomic and functional diversity of bacterial communities of a Himalayan urban fresh water lake

Freshwater lakes present an ecological border between humans and a variety of host organisms. The present study was designed to evaluate the microbiota composition and distribution in Dal Lake at Srinagar, India. The non-chimeric sequence reads were classified taxonomically into 49 phyla, 114 classes, 185 orders, 244 families and 384 genera. Proteobacteria was found to be the most abundant bacterial phylum in all the four samples. The highest number of observed species was found to be 3097 in sample taken from least populated area during summer (LPS) whereas the summer sample from highly populated area (HPS) was found most diverse among all as indicated by taxonomic diversity analysis. The QIIME output files were used for PICRUSt analysis to assign functional attributes. The samples exhibited a significant difference in their microbial community composition and structure. Comparative analysis of functional pathways indicated that the anthropogenic activities in populated areas and higher summer temperature, both decrease functional potential of the Lake microbiota. This is probably the first study to demonstrate the comparative taxonomic diversity and functional composition of an urban freshwater lake amid its highly populated and least populated areas during two extreme seasons (winter and summer).

Molecular and culture-based surveys of metabolically active hydrocarbon-degrading archaeal communities in Sundarban mangrove sediments

Archaea remain important players in global biogeochemical cycles worldwide, including in the highly productive mangrove estuarine ecosystems. In the present study, we have explored the diversity, distribution, and function of the metabolically active fraction of the resident archaeal community of the Sundarban mangrove ecosystem, using both culture-independent and culture-dependent approaches. To evaluate the diversity and distribution pattern of the active archaeal communities, RNA based analysis of the 16S rRNA gene was performed on an Illumina platform. The active Crenarchaeal community was observed to remain constant while active Euryarchaeal community underwent considerable change across the sampling sites depending on varying anthropogenic factors. Haloarchaea were the predominant group in hydrocarbon polluted sediments, leading us to successfully isolate eleven p-hydroxybenzoic acid degrading haloarchaeal species. The isolates could also survive in benzoic acid, naphthalene, and o-phthalate. Quantitative estimation of p-hydroxybenzoic acid degradation was studied on select isolates, and their ability to reduce COD of polluted saline waters of Sundarban was also evaluated. To our knowledge, this is the first ever study combining culture-independent (Next Generation sequencing and metatranscriptome) and culture-dependent analyses for an assessment of archaeal function in the sediment of Sundarban.

Diversity of fungi from mangrove sediments of Goa, India, obtained by metagenomic analysis using Illumina sequencing

The fungal composition, abundance and diversity of the mangrove sediments from the Mandovi and Zuari estuaries, Goa, using paired-end Illumina sequencing, hitherto unexplored by a metagenomic approach, indicated that though the types of fungal phyla were similar between the two sediments, the abundance of the species was significantly different between them (p value < 0.005). Basidiomycota and Ascomycota were the two major phyla which were sub-divided into eighteen classes, families, orders, genera and species and one unassigned group in both the sediments. The top five classes observed were Agaricomycetes, Sordariomycetes, Saccharomycetes, Dothideomycetes and Eurotiomycetes from both the sediments. The diversity analysis based on the observed fungal species richness (Chao 1 for Mandovi were 614 and 714.7 while for Zuari were 665 and 771.2) revealed that Zuari sediment was taxonomically rich, indicating these to be potent candidates for bioremediation and a rich repository for biotechnologically important fungi. This is a first report on diversity of fungi from mangrove sediments of Goa using metagenomic studies.