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At Shores of a Vanishing Sea: Microbial Communities of Aral and Southern Aral Sea Region
- Authors: Chernyh N.A.1, Merkel A.Y.1, Kondrasheva K.V.2, Alimov Z.E.3, Klyukina A.A.1, Bonch-Osmolovskaya E.A.1,4, Slobodkin A.I.1, Davranov K.D.2
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Affiliations:
- Winogradsky Institute of Microbiology, FRC Fundamentals of Biotechnology, Russian Academy of Sciences
- Institute of Microbiology, Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan
- International Agricultural University
- Lomonosov Moscow State University
- Issue: Vol 93, No 1 (2024)
- Pages: 3-16
- Section: EXPERIMENTAL ARTICLES
- URL: https://journal-vniispk.ru/0026-3656/article/view/257699
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.31857/S0026365624010035
- ID: 257699
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Abstract
Since the early 60s of the 20th century, as a result of agricultural development in the irrigated areas of Uzbekistan, the area of the Aral Sea has decreased by 90%, while the water salinity has increased from 1% to 20%. The aim of our work was to investigate the diversity of microbial communities of water and sediments of the Western Aral Sea, as well as of the adjacent soils and reservoirs using high-throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA genes variable V4 region. It was found that the Aral Sea water with a salinity of 22% was dominated by uncultured Archaea of the family Haloferacaceae (22‒43%), as well as by bacteria of the genera Spiribacter and Psychroflexus. In the Aral Sea sediments the share of archaea was much lower (2‒17%), and among them the uncultured Woesearchaeales predominated. Among bacteria, dominating in Aral sediments, there were sulfate reducers of the phylum ‘Desulfobacterota’, as well as representatives of the genera Fusibacter, Halanaerobium, Guyparkeria, Marinobacter, Idiomarina and Thiomicrospira. In soil samples of the former Aral Sea bed with salinity of 8.2%, a variety of archaea of the phylum Halobacterota were present, as well as uncultured bacteria of the family Nitrosococcaceae. However, in the rhizosphere of Ewresmann’s teresken plant (Kraschennininikovia ewresmanniana) growing there, archaea accounted for only 4% and mainly represented the family Nitrososphearaceae. 33% of all prokaryotes in the rhizosphere microbiome were the uncultured representatives of the phylum Actinomycetota. The microbial community of the teresken rhizosphere turned out to be similar to the microbial communities of the soil of the Ustyurt plateau, located in 3 km from the Aral Sea shore. The fresh water flowing along the former Aral Sea bed from an artificially drilled well also causes significant changes in the microbial communities: cyanobacterial mats and associated organotrophic bacteria develop along the stream bed with the increasing salinity (0.5‒2%). Finally, the greatest diversity of prokaryotes was found in the microbial community of Sudochie Lake sediment with salinity of 1%, which is probably a modern analogue of the Aral Sea microbiome before its shallowing.
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About the authors
N. A. Chernyh
Winogradsky Institute of Microbiology, FRC Fundamentals of Biotechnology, Russian Academy of Sciences
Email: chernyh3@yandex.com
Russian Federation, Moscow
A. Yu. Merkel
Winogradsky Institute of Microbiology, FRC Fundamentals of Biotechnology, Russian Academy of Sciences
Email: chernyh3@yandex.com
Russian Federation, Moscow
K. V. Kondrasheva
Institute of Microbiology, Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan
Email: chernyh3@yandex.com
Uzbekistan, Tashkent
Zh. E. Alimov
International Agricultural University
Email: chernyh3@yandex.com
Uzbekistan, Tashkent
A. A. Klyukina
Winogradsky Institute of Microbiology, FRC Fundamentals of Biotechnology, Russian Academy of Sciences
Email: chernyh3@yandex.com
Russian Federation, Moscow
E. A. Bonch-Osmolovskaya
Winogradsky Institute of Microbiology, FRC Fundamentals of Biotechnology, Russian Academy of Sciences; Lomonosov Moscow State University
Author for correspondence.
Email: chernyh3@yandex.com
Russian Federation, Moscow; Moscow
A. I. Slobodkin
Winogradsky Institute of Microbiology, FRC Fundamentals of Biotechnology, Russian Academy of Sciences
Email: chernyh3@yandex.com
Russian Federation, Moscow
K. D. Davranov
Institute of Microbiology, Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan
Email: chernyh3@yandex.com
Uzbekistan, Tashkent
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