Taxonomic and functional study of the halophilic microbial community in saline deposits with potential for artisanal production of gourmet salt in Manaure, La Guajira

Salt mines and salt mining deposits represent important ecosystems in which diverse biological, chemical and environmental factors converge. Current studies in these environments have focused on the use of omics tools to analyze the taxonomic and functional diversity of halophilic microbiomes in salt mines around the world. In this study, the physicochemical and environmental characteristics of a salt deposit used for the production of gourmet salt in Manaure, La Guajira, were analyzed. In addition, an in silico analysis of the halophilic microbial community present in three salt mines in different regions of the world and its relationship with the physicochemical (pH, temperature, salinity and trace mineral content) and environmental (temperature, relative humidity, precipitation and wind speed) characteristics of each mining site was carried out. Metagenomes from saline deposits from Italy, Pakistan, and Chile were downloaded from MGnify and NCBI and subjected to quality, cleanliness, and taxonomic diversity analysis in MG-RAST. Functional analysis was performed using Egg-NOG Mapper. Regarding physicochemical characteristics in the Manaure reservoir, pH values of 7.4, a water temperature of 32°C, and a salinity of 402.0 mS/cm were recorded. Chlorine was the predominant trace mineral with 889.45 mg/100 g and potassium was the scarcest with 76 mg/100 g at the end of the study. The ambient temperature was 30 °C, precipitation was 3.3%, relative humidity was 65% and winds were 26.3 km/h. The results of the in silico analysis showed that the halophilic microbial community in the metagenomes of Italy, Pakistan, and Chile was mostly represented by the Archaea domain. The genera Halorubrum and Haloquadratum were predominant in a pH range between 6.4 and 7.5 seawater temperature between 38 and 41.2 °C and salinity between 24.1 and 34.1%. The common genera in the 3 metagenomes were Halorubrum, Haloquadratum, Haloarcula, Halobacterium, and Natronomonas, under neutral and/or basic pH conditions and as salinity increases. Functional analysis of the three metagenomes identified genes related to translation, ribosome structure, biogenesis, post-translational modifications, protein turnover, chaperones, as well as universal stress proteins. The participation of these proteins in osmoadaptation systems, previously reported in halophilic archaea, is documented. The results of the in silico analysis added to the physicochemical and environmental characteristics of the saline deposit of Manaure, La Guajira, allowed prediction of the possible associated microbial community.

Identifier
Source https://data.blue-cloud.org/search-details?step=~012FDFC2F6E77E55C443E7446C25E520F2B66373204
Metadata Access https://data.blue-cloud.org/api/collections/FDFC2F6E77E55C443E7446C25E520F2B66373204
Provenance
Publisher Blue-Cloud Data Discovery & Access service; ELIXIR-ENA
Publication Year 2024
OpenAccess true
Contact blue-cloud-support(at)maris.nl
Representation
Discipline Marine Science
Spatial Coverage (72.300W, 11.450S, 72.300E, 11.450N)
Temporal Coverage Begin 2021-02-10T00:00:00Z
Temporal Coverage End 2021-03-10T00:00:00Z