Bacteria, Archaea and Viruses of Soda Lakes

Spatiotemporal variations in microbial diversity across the three domains of life in a tropical thalassohaline lake (Dziani Dzaha, Mayotte Island)

“…As observed in soda lakes, photosynthetic organisms dominated the microbial assemblage (Grant & Jones, ; Krienitz & Schagerl, ), particularly in the upper layer. In Lake Dziani Dzaha, the photosynthetic communities were dominated by cyanobacteria from the Arthrospira genus (also named Spirulina ) and eukaryota from the Picocystis genus.…”

“…In prokaryotic communities, changes in the identity of detected species were relatively small when compared to the total diversity (i.e., β-diversity represented 20.2% and 14.6% of γ-diversity with presence-absence data in archaea and bacteria, respectively). However, the distribution of abundances among the OTUs varied greatly according to depth and season (e.g., the contribution of β-diversity was 34.9% and 31.6% for archaea and bacteria, As observed in soda lakes, photosynthetic organisms dominated the microbial assemblage (Grant & Jones, 2016;Krienitz & Schagerl, 2016), particularly in the upper layer. In Lake Dziani Dzaha, the photosynthetic communities were dominated by cyanobacteria from the Arthrospira genus (also named Spirulina) and eukaryota from the Picocystis genus.…”

“…Many investigations have been conducted on athalassohaline systems, and soda lakes in particular, especially in tropical areas where elevated temperature and high incident solar radiation place soda lakes among the most productive aquatic ecosystems on Earth (Grant, 2006;Grant & Jones, 2016;Jones, Grant, Duckworth, & Owenson, 1998;Sorokin et al, 2014). These prodigious rates of photosynthetic primary production are notably associated with cyanobacteria from the genera Arthrospira, Cyanospira, Geitlerinema, Leptolyngbya or Anabaenopsis (Grant & Jones, 2016;Krienitz & Schagerl, 2016); unicellular green algae such as Picocystis salinarum or Dunaliella viridis (Krienitz & Schagerl, 2016); and/or anoxygenic phototrophic bacteria (Ballot, Dadheech, & Krienitz, 2004;Lewis, Wurtsbaugh, & Paerl, 2011). The rates of primary productivity in such systems can reach up to 10 gC cm −2 day −1 , delivering fixed carbon to haloalkaliphilic communities, such as aerobic and anaerobic chemoorganotrophic bacteria and archaea (Grant, Mwatha, & Jones, 1990;Leboulanger et al, 2017;Melack & Kilham, 1974).…”

Reclassification of the genus Natronolimnobius: proposal of two new genera, Natronolimnohabitans gen. nov. to accommodate Natronolimnobius innermongolicus and Natrarchaeobaculum gen. nov. to accommodate Natronolimnobius aegyptiacus and Natronolimnobius sulfurireducens

“…The phylogenomic splitting of the genus Natronolimnobius into three separate genus-level lineages is supported by clearcut phenotypic differences between the groups. The only obvious common (but probably most ecologically relevant) feature is their obligate alkaliphily, typical for the haloarchaea inhabiting hypersaline soda lakes [21]. But there are substantial differences even in this common parameter: Nlb.…”

Biogeochemistry and biodiversity in a network of saline–alkaline lakes: Implications of ecohydrological connectivity in the Kenyan Rift Valley

“…Bacterial communities in alkaline lakes have fascinated biologists all over the world as they host diverse microbial populations adapted to chemolithotrophic modes of energy conversion. The study of East African extremophiles, their metabolism, biology and ability to thrive in a range of extreme chemical and physical conditions has promoted a deeper fundamental understanding of bacterial physiology (Grant and Jones, 2016). Relatively little work on strain isolation has actually been carried out in this region, but data assembled so far suggest that the extant biological diversity provides options for huge biotechnological potential (as reviewed in Grant and Jones, 2016).…”