Could Pontimonas Harbour Halophilic Members Able to Withstand Very Broad Salinity Variations?
Metadatos
Mostrar el registro completo del ítemEditorial
MDPI
Materia
Pontimonas Hypersaline environments Marine salterns Saline di Tarquinia Metabarcoding survey
Fecha
2022-04-08Referencia bibliográfica
Gorrasi, S... [et al.]. Could Pontimonas Harbour Halophilic Members Able to Withstand Very Broad Salinity Variations? Microorganisms 2022, 10, 790. [https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms10040790]
Resumen
Pontimonas is currently described as a genus including only one species of slightly halophilic
marine bacteria. Although some works revealed its presence in some hypersaline environments,
the information on its habitat preference is still scant. This work investigated Pontimonas presence
in selected ponds of the Saline di Tarquinia marine saltern and in the seawater intake area. The
two-year metabarcoding survey documented its constant presence along the ponds establishing the
salinity gradient and in a distinct basin with permanent hypersaline conditions (BSB). Pontimonas
was higher in the ponds than in the sea, whereas it had similar abundances in the sea and in the
BSB. Its representative OTUs showed significant trends according to different parameters. Along the
salinity gradient, OTU1 abundance increased with decreasing water temperatures and increasing
rainfalls, and it showed a maximum in January; OTU2 increased with increasing BOD5 and it
showed the highest abundances in the period August–October, and OTU 3194 increased at decreasing
salinities. In BSB, a significant seasonal variation was shown by OTU 3194, which started increasing
in spring to reach a maximum in summer. The results suggest that Pontimonas could easily settle in
hypersaline habitats, having also broad euryhaline members and some possible extreme halophilic
representatives.