Metagenomic analysis of bacterial communities inhabiting Lake Natron waters in Arusha, Tanzania
- Journal of Microbiology & Experimentation
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Sadikiel E Kaale,<sup>1,2</sup> Robert S Machang’u,<sup>3</sup>
Thomas J Lyimo<sup>1</sup>
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Abstract
Metagenomics studies which involve extraction of genetic material directly from
environmental samples and sequencing in order to gain insight into the microbial world and
the relationships that exist between microbes and their surroundings are very few especially
in extreme environments such as soda lakes. Lake Natron is one of the soda lakes found
in the eastern branch of East African Gregory Rift system, in Arusha region, Tanzania and
is among the paramount extreme environments characterized with high alkaline in nature.
The present study used full length 16S rRNA reads sequenced through PacBio system to
reveal the first metagenomic snapshots of bacterial communities from the water samples
of Lake Natron. The results showed an extremity of physicochemical parameters (high
salinity and pH) and high number and diversity of bacterial species. Bacterial community
was dominated by Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Bacteroidota and Actinomycetota at Phylum
level; Alphaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, Bacteroidia and Bacilli at Class level;
Oceanibaculaceae, Devosiaceae, Rhizobiaceae, Izemoplasmataceae and ML635J at Family
level; Oceanibaculum, Devosia, Allorhizobium and Izimaplasma at Genus level. High
abundances of unknown and uncultured species were also recorded suggesting presence
of new taxa. Consequently, there is high species diversity and variations with a notable
dominance and close variation of some bacteria species among the sampling points of Lake
Natron. Therefore, due to the exceptional bacterial diversity in Lake Natron, the present
study highlights the need for continued exploration to uncover new taxa, understand the
ecological significance of these bacteria, and harness their biotechnological potential.
Keywords
metagenomics, pacBio, 16S rRNA gene, soda lake, Lake Natron, Tanzania
