title: Diversity and Distribution of Thermophilic Bacteria in Hot Springs of Pakistan.
abstract: Chilas and Hunza areas, located in the Main Mantle Thrust and Main Karakoram Thrust of the Himalayas, host a range of geochemically diverse hot springs. This Himalayan geothermal region encompassed hot springs ranging in temperature from 60 to 95 °C, in pH from 6.2 to 9.4, and in mineralogy from bicarbonates (Tato Field), sulfates (Tatta Pani) to mixed type (Murtazaabad). Microbial community structures in these geothermal springs remained largely unexplored to date. In this study, we report a comprehensive, culture-independent survey of microbial communities in nine samples from these geothermal fields by employing a bar-coded pyrosequencing technique. The bacterial phyla Proteobacteria and Chloroflexi were dominant in all samples from Tato Field, Tatta Pani, and Murtazaabad. The community structures however depended on temperature, pH, and physicochemical parameters of the geothermal sites. The Murtazaabad hot springs with relatively higher temperature (90-95 °C) favored the growth of phylum Thermotogae, whereas the Tatta Pani thermal spring site TP-H3-b (60 °C) favored the phylum Proteobacteria. At sites with low silica and high temperature, OTUs belonging to phylum Chloroflexi were dominant. Deep water areas of the Murtazaabad hot springs favored the sulfur-reducing bacteria. About 40% of the total OTUs obtained from these samples were unclassified or uncharacterized, suggesting the presence of many undiscovered and unexplored microbiota. This study has provided novel insights into the nature of ecological interactions among important taxa in these communities, which in turn will help in determining future study courses in these sites.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Microbial Diversity in Southwest China, Ministry of Education, Yunnan Institute of Microbiology, Yunnan University, Kunming, 650091, People's Republic of China.|Institute of Microbial Culture Collection of Pakistan (IMCCP), National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC), Islamabad, 45500, Pakistan.|Department of Microbiology, Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad, 45320, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Arshia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Amin
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microbial Culture Collection of Pakistan (IMCCP), National Agricultural Research Centre (NARC), Islamabad, 45500, Pakistan. iftikharnarc@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Iftikhar
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ahmed
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol and Guandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Resources, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Nimaichand
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Salam
authors.affiliation: Chun Lab Inc., Seoul National University, Seoul, 151-742, Republic of South Korea.
authors.forename: Byung-Yong
authors.initials: BY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Environmental Genomics Division, National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-NEERI), Nagpur, 440024, India.
authors.forename: Dharmesh
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Microbial Diversity in Southwest China, Ministry of Education, Yunnan Institute of Microbiology, Yunnan University, Kunming, 650091, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Yang
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Zhi
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol and Guandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Resources, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Microbial Diversity in Southwest China, Ministry of Education, Yunnan Institute of Microbiology, Yunnan University, Kunming, 650091, People's Republic of China. liwenjun3@mail.sysu.edu.cn.|State Key Laboratory of Biocontrol and Guandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Resources, School of Life Sciences, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, People's Republic of China. liwenjun3@mail.sysu.edu.cn.|Key Laboratory of Biogeography and Bioresource in Arid Land, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ürümqi, 830011, People's Republic of China. liwenjun3@mail.sysu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Wen-Jun
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D041862:Chloroflexi / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D045482:Hot Springs / Q000382:microbiology*; D006358:Hot Temperature; D010154:Pakistan; D020560:Proteobacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D016999:Sulfur-Reducing Bacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000302:isolation & purification*
keywords: 16S rRNA gene; Hot springs; Main Karakoram Thrust; Pyrosequencing; Thermophilic bacterial diversity