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A 16S rRNA Gene-Based Metabarcoding of Phosphate-Rich Deposits in Muierilor Cave, South-Western Carpathians

Muierilor Cave is one of Romania’s most important show caves, with paleontological and archeological deposits. Recently, a new chamber was discovered in the cave, with unique yellow calcite crystals, fine-grained crusts, and black sediments. The deposits in this chamber were related to a leaking pro...

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Autores principales: Haidău, Catalina, Năstase-Bucur, Ruxandra, Bulzu, Paul, Levei, Erika, Cadar, Oana, Mirea, Ionuţ Cornel, Faur, Luchiana, Fruth, Victor, Atkinson, Irina, Constantin, Silviu, Moldovan, Oana Teodora
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9161362/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35663904
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2022.877481
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author Haidău, Catalina
Năstase-Bucur, Ruxandra
Bulzu, Paul
Levei, Erika
Cadar, Oana
Mirea, Ionuţ Cornel
Faur, Luchiana
Fruth, Victor
Atkinson, Irina
Constantin, Silviu
Moldovan, Oana Teodora
author_facet Haidău, Catalina
Năstase-Bucur, Ruxandra
Bulzu, Paul
Levei, Erika
Cadar, Oana
Mirea, Ionuţ Cornel
Faur, Luchiana
Fruth, Victor
Atkinson, Irina
Constantin, Silviu
Moldovan, Oana Teodora
author_sort Haidău, Catalina
collection PubMed
description Muierilor Cave is one of Romania’s most important show caves, with paleontological and archeological deposits. Recently, a new chamber was discovered in the cave, with unique yellow calcite crystals, fine-grained crusts, and black sediments. The deposits in this chamber were related to a leaking process from the upper level that contains fossil bones and a large pile of guano. Samples were taken from the new chamber and another passage to investigate the relationship between the substrate and microbial community. Chemical, mineralogical, and whole community 16S rRNA gene-based metabarcoding analyses were undertaken, and the base of the guano deposit was radiocarbon dated. Our study indicated bacteria linked to the presence of high phosphate concentration, most likely due to the nature of the substrate (hydroxyapatite). Bacteria involved in Fe, Mn, or N cycles were also found, as these elements are commonly identified in high concentrations in guano. Since no bat colonies or fossil bones were present in the new chamber, a high concentration of these elements could be sourced by organic deposits inside the cave (guano and fossil bones) even after hundreds of years of their deposition and in areas far from both deposits. Metabarcoding of the analyzed samples found that ∼0.7% of the identified bacteria are unknown to science, and ∼47% were not previously reported in caves or guano. Moreover, most of the identified human-related bacteria were not reported in caves or guano before, and some are known for their pathogenic potential. Therefore, continuous monitoring of air and floor microbiology should be considered in show caves with organic deposits containing bacteria that can threaten human health. The high number of unidentified taxa in a small sector of Muierilor Cave indicates the limited knowledge of the bacterial diversity in caves that can have potential applications in human health and biotechnology.
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spelling pubmed-91613622022-06-03 A 16S rRNA Gene-Based Metabarcoding of Phosphate-Rich Deposits in Muierilor Cave, South-Western Carpathians Haidău, Catalina Năstase-Bucur, Ruxandra Bulzu, Paul Levei, Erika Cadar, Oana Mirea, Ionuţ Cornel Faur, Luchiana Fruth, Victor Atkinson, Irina Constantin, Silviu Moldovan, Oana Teodora Front Microbiol Microbiology Muierilor Cave is one of Romania’s most important show caves, with paleontological and archeological deposits. Recently, a new chamber was discovered in the cave, with unique yellow calcite crystals, fine-grained crusts, and black sediments. The deposits in this chamber were related to a leaking process from the upper level that contains fossil bones and a large pile of guano. Samples were taken from the new chamber and another passage to investigate the relationship between the substrate and microbial community. Chemical, mineralogical, and whole community 16S rRNA gene-based metabarcoding analyses were undertaken, and the base of the guano deposit was radiocarbon dated. Our study indicated bacteria linked to the presence of high phosphate concentration, most likely due to the nature of the substrate (hydroxyapatite). Bacteria involved in Fe, Mn, or N cycles were also found, as these elements are commonly identified in high concentrations in guano. Since no bat colonies or fossil bones were present in the new chamber, a high concentration of these elements could be sourced by organic deposits inside the cave (guano and fossil bones) even after hundreds of years of their deposition and in areas far from both deposits. Metabarcoding of the analyzed samples found that ∼0.7% of the identified bacteria are unknown to science, and ∼47% were not previously reported in caves or guano. Moreover, most of the identified human-related bacteria were not reported in caves or guano before, and some are known for their pathogenic potential. Therefore, continuous monitoring of air and floor microbiology should be considered in show caves with organic deposits containing bacteria that can threaten human health. The high number of unidentified taxa in a small sector of Muierilor Cave indicates the limited knowledge of the bacterial diversity in caves that can have potential applications in human health and biotechnology. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-05-19 /pmc/articles/PMC9161362/ /pubmed/35663904 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2022.877481 Text en Copyright © 2022 Haidău, Năstase-Bucur, Bulzu, Levei, Cadar, Mirea, Faur, Fruth, Atkinson, Constantin and Moldovan. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Microbiology
Haidău, Catalina
Năstase-Bucur, Ruxandra
Bulzu, Paul
Levei, Erika
Cadar, Oana
Mirea, Ionuţ Cornel
Faur, Luchiana
Fruth, Victor
Atkinson, Irina
Constantin, Silviu
Moldovan, Oana Teodora
A 16S rRNA Gene-Based Metabarcoding of Phosphate-Rich Deposits in Muierilor Cave, South-Western Carpathians
title A 16S rRNA Gene-Based Metabarcoding of Phosphate-Rich Deposits in Muierilor Cave, South-Western Carpathians
title_full A 16S rRNA Gene-Based Metabarcoding of Phosphate-Rich Deposits in Muierilor Cave, South-Western Carpathians
title_fullStr A 16S rRNA Gene-Based Metabarcoding of Phosphate-Rich Deposits in Muierilor Cave, South-Western Carpathians
title_full_unstemmed A 16S rRNA Gene-Based Metabarcoding of Phosphate-Rich Deposits in Muierilor Cave, South-Western Carpathians
title_short A 16S rRNA Gene-Based Metabarcoding of Phosphate-Rich Deposits in Muierilor Cave, South-Western Carpathians
title_sort 16s rrna gene-based metabarcoding of phosphate-rich deposits in muierilor cave, south-western carpathians
topic Microbiology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9161362/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35663904
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2022.877481
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