title: Bacterial Communities of Three Saline Meromictic Lakes in Central Asia.
abstract: Meromictic lakes located in landlocked steppes of central Asia (~2500 km inland) have unique geophysiochemical characteristics compared to other meromictic lakes. To characterize their bacteria and elucidate relationships between those bacteria and surrounding environments, water samples were collected from three saline meromictic lakes (Lakes Shira, Shunet and Oigon) in the border between Siberia and the West Mongolia, near the center of Asia. Based on in-depth tag pyrosequencing, bacterial communities were highly variable and dissimilar among lakes and between oxic and anoxic layers within individual lakes. Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Cyanobacteria, Actinobacteria and Firmicutes were the most abundant phyla, whereas three genera of purple sulfur bacteria (a novel genus, Thiocapsa and Halochromatium) were predominant bacterial components in the anoxic layer of Lake Shira (~20.6% of relative abundance), Lake Shunet (~27.1%) and Lake Oigon (~9.25%), respectively. However, few known green sulfur bacteria were detected. Notably, 3.94% of all sequencing reads were classified into 19 candidate divisions, which was especially high (23.12%) in the anoxic layer of Lake Shunet. Furthermore, several hydro-parameters (temperature, pH, dissolved oxygen, H2S and salinity) were associated (P< 0.05) with variations in dominant bacterial groups. In conclusion, based on highly variable bacterial composition in water layers or lakes, we inferred that the meromictic ecosystem was characterized by high diversity and heterogenous niches.
authors.affiliation: Molecular and Biological Agricultural Sciences Program, Taiwan International Graduate Program, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.|Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.|Graduate Institute of Biotechnology, National Chung-Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Bayanmunkh
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Baatar
authors.affiliation: Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Pei-Wen
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Chiang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biophysics SB RAS, 660036 Krasnoyarsk, Russia.
authors.forename: Denis Yu
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Rogozin
authors.affiliation: Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.|National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, Pingtung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Yu-Ting
authors.initials: YT
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Ching-Hung
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Tseng
authors.affiliation: Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Cheng-Yu
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Hsiu-Hui
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Chiu
authors.affiliation: School of Art and Sciences, National University of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar 14201, Mongolia.
authors.forename: Bolormaa
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Oyuntsetseg
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biophysics SB RAS, 660036 Krasnoyarsk, Russia.
authors.forename: Andrey G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Degermendzhy
authors.affiliation: Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.|Biotechnology Center, National Chung-Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Sen-Lin
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Tang
mesh_terms: D001208:Asia; D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics*; D044822:Biodiversity; D006862:Hydrogen Sulfide / Q000032:analysis; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D062070:Hydrology; D060106:Lakes / Q000032:analysis* / Q000382:microbiology*; D010100:Oxygen / Q000032:analysis; D010802:Phylogeny; D054712:Salinity; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen; D006862:Hydrogen Sulfide