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Dryad

Diversity, adaptation and metabolic potential of the microbiome in biofilms from a high-temperature hot spring

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May 14, 2024 version files 100.06 MB

Abstract

Hot spring microbiomes have garnered significant research attention from exploring the diversity of prokaryotic communities to genes and functional potentials. While cyanobacteria-rich biofilms, characterized by warm temperatures, have been extensively studied, there is limited investigation into high-temperature streamer biofilm communities (SBC) devoid of photosynthetic ability. Here, we studied the biofilm of a Dusun Tua (DT) hot spring with a temperature of 75°C and a pH of 7.6. This grey-tan colored biofilm appeared at sites where water had slowed down following the deposition of plants and inorganic debris along the hot spring after a flood event. Amplicon sequencing of V3-V4 regions of 16S rRNA showed that dominant phyla included the Aquificota, Chloroflexota, and Desulfobacterota together with other abundant amplicon sequence variants from the Bacteroidota, Deinococcota, Hydrothermae and Armatimonadota. These microbial populations appeared to be distinct from other reported SBCs from Yellowstone National Park in the USA and Rehai Hot Springs in China. Additional shotgun sequencing of the DT biofilm revealed functional insights which were compared to counterparts obtained from low-temperature biofilms to identify possible thermophilic traits. GC content of tRNA and amino acid preferences were found to be clear indicators of thermophilicity. However, other signatures such as reverse gyrase, heat shock proteins, and average GC content of the genome may not be reliable indicators. The genome-centric analyses revealed that DT biofilm members were primarily chemo-organoheterotrophic, chemolithoautotrophic, and chemolithoheterotrophic. We speculate that the biofilm could utilize plant litter as carbon sources, but the efficiency of this process is estimated to be low due to rapid water flux that would rapidly remove dissolved organic carbon. The results of this study enhance current understanding of microbial diversity, thermal adaptation and metabolic processes related to carbon, nitrogen, sulfur and other metabolisms for hot springs in tropical climates with high allochthonous plant litter inputs.