Bacterial and archaeal diversities in Y unnan and T ibetan hot springs, C hina

Abstract

Summary Thousands of hot springs are located in the north‐eastern part of the Y unnan– T ibet geothermal zone, which is one of the most active geothermal areas in the world. However, a comprehensive and detailed understanding of microbial diversity in these hot springs is still lacking. In this study, bacterial and archaeal diversities were investigated in 16 hot springs ( pH 3.2–8.6; temperature 47–96° C ) in Y unnan P rovince and T ibet, C hina by using a barcoded 16 S rRNA gene‐pyrosequencing approach. A quificae , P roteobacteria , F irmicutes , D einococcus‐ T hermus and B acteroidetes comprised the large portion of the bacterial communities in acidic hot springs. Non‐acidic hot springs harboured more and variable bacterial phyla than acidic springs. D esulfurococcales and unclassified C renarchaeota were the dominated groups in archaeal populations from most of the non‐acidic hot springs; whereas, the archaeal community structure in acidic hot springs was simpler and characterized by S ulfolobales and T hermoplasmata . The phylogenetic analyses showed that A quificae and C renarchaeota were predominant in the investigated springs and possessed many phylogenetic lineages that have never been detected in other hot springs in the world. Thus findings from this study significantly improve our understanding of microbial diversity in terrestrial hot springs.

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