Cargando…

Microbial Characterization of Qatari Barchan Sand Dunes

This study represents the first characterization of sand microbiota in migrating barchan sand dunes. Bacterial communities were studied through direct counts and cultivation, as well as 16S rRNA gene and metagenomic sequence analysis to gain an understanding of microbial abundance, diversity, and po...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Abdul Majid, Sara, Graw, Michael F., Chatziefthimiou, Aspassia D., Nguyen, Hanh, Richer, Renee, Louge, Michel, Sultan, Ali A., Schloss, Patrick, Hay, Anthony G.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5031452/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27655399
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0161836
_version_ 1782454812401467392
author Abdul Majid, Sara
Graw, Michael F.
Chatziefthimiou, Aspassia D.
Nguyen, Hanh
Richer, Renee
Louge, Michel
Sultan, Ali A.
Schloss, Patrick
Hay, Anthony G.
author_facet Abdul Majid, Sara
Graw, Michael F.
Chatziefthimiou, Aspassia D.
Nguyen, Hanh
Richer, Renee
Louge, Michel
Sultan, Ali A.
Schloss, Patrick
Hay, Anthony G.
author_sort Abdul Majid, Sara
collection PubMed
description This study represents the first characterization of sand microbiota in migrating barchan sand dunes. Bacterial communities were studied through direct counts and cultivation, as well as 16S rRNA gene and metagenomic sequence analysis to gain an understanding of microbial abundance, diversity, and potential metabolic capabilities. Direct on-grain cell counts gave an average of 5.3 ± 0.4 x 10(5) cells g(-1) of sand. Cultured isolates (N = 64) selected for 16S rRNA gene sequencing belonged to the phyla Actinobacteria (58%), Firmicutes (27%) and Proteobacteria (15%). Deep-sequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicons from 18 dunes demonstrated a high relative abundance of Proteobacteria, particularly enteric bacteria, and a dune-specific-pattern of bacterial community composition that correlated with dune size. Shotgun metagenome sequences of two representative dunes were analyzed and found to have similar relative bacterial abundance, though the relative abundances of eukaryotic, viral and enterobacterial sequences were greater in sand from the dune closer to a camel-pen. Functional analysis revealed patterns similar to those observed in desert soils; however, the increased relative abundance of genes encoding sporulation and dormancy are consistent with the dune microbiome being well-adapted to the exceptionally hyper-arid Qatari desert.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-5031452
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2016
publisher Public Library of Science
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-50314522016-10-10 Microbial Characterization of Qatari Barchan Sand Dunes Abdul Majid, Sara Graw, Michael F. Chatziefthimiou, Aspassia D. Nguyen, Hanh Richer, Renee Louge, Michel Sultan, Ali A. Schloss, Patrick Hay, Anthony G. PLoS One Research Article This study represents the first characterization of sand microbiota in migrating barchan sand dunes. Bacterial communities were studied through direct counts and cultivation, as well as 16S rRNA gene and metagenomic sequence analysis to gain an understanding of microbial abundance, diversity, and potential metabolic capabilities. Direct on-grain cell counts gave an average of 5.3 ± 0.4 x 10(5) cells g(-1) of sand. Cultured isolates (N = 64) selected for 16S rRNA gene sequencing belonged to the phyla Actinobacteria (58%), Firmicutes (27%) and Proteobacteria (15%). Deep-sequencing of 16S rRNA gene amplicons from 18 dunes demonstrated a high relative abundance of Proteobacteria, particularly enteric bacteria, and a dune-specific-pattern of bacterial community composition that correlated with dune size. Shotgun metagenome sequences of two representative dunes were analyzed and found to have similar relative bacterial abundance, though the relative abundances of eukaryotic, viral and enterobacterial sequences were greater in sand from the dune closer to a camel-pen. Functional analysis revealed patterns similar to those observed in desert soils; however, the increased relative abundance of genes encoding sporulation and dormancy are consistent with the dune microbiome being well-adapted to the exceptionally hyper-arid Qatari desert. Public Library of Science 2016-09-21 /pmc/articles/PMC5031452/ /pubmed/27655399 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0161836 Text en © 2016 Abdul Majid et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Abdul Majid, Sara
Graw, Michael F.
Chatziefthimiou, Aspassia D.
Nguyen, Hanh
Richer, Renee
Louge, Michel
Sultan, Ali A.
Schloss, Patrick
Hay, Anthony G.
Microbial Characterization of Qatari Barchan Sand Dunes
title Microbial Characterization of Qatari Barchan Sand Dunes
title_full Microbial Characterization of Qatari Barchan Sand Dunes
title_fullStr Microbial Characterization of Qatari Barchan Sand Dunes
title_full_unstemmed Microbial Characterization of Qatari Barchan Sand Dunes
title_short Microbial Characterization of Qatari Barchan Sand Dunes
title_sort microbial characterization of qatari barchan sand dunes
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5031452/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27655399
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0161836
work_keys_str_mv AT abdulmajidsara microbialcharacterizationofqataribarchansanddunes
AT grawmichaelf microbialcharacterizationofqataribarchansanddunes
AT chatziefthimiouaspassiad microbialcharacterizationofqataribarchansanddunes
AT nguyenhanh microbialcharacterizationofqataribarchansanddunes
AT richerrenee microbialcharacterizationofqataribarchansanddunes
AT lougemichel microbialcharacterizationofqataribarchansanddunes
AT sultanalia microbialcharacterizationofqataribarchansanddunes
AT schlosspatrick microbialcharacterizationofqataribarchansanddunes
AT hayanthonyg microbialcharacterizationofqataribarchansanddunes