BIOGEOGRAPHY OF MICROBIAL COMMUNITIES IN SODA LAKES OF BRAZILIAN PANTANAL

• Grant number: 18/24049-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• Start date: February 01, 2019
• End date: January 31, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Microbiology - Applied Microbiology
• Principal Investigator: Marli de Fátima Fiore
• Grantee: Simone Raposo Cotta
• Host Institution: Centro de Energia Nuclear na Agricultura (CENA). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Piracicaba , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 16/14227-5 - Climatic changes and environmental impacts in wetlands of Pantanal region (Brazil): quantification, control factors and long term temporal modeling, AP.PFPMCG.TEM

Abstract

Studies in the field of microbial biogeography have as main objective to search for existence of patterns in the communities of these organisms. Such studies are particularly recent and important in extreme environments where microbial biodiversity is little explored and uncommon. The Brazilian Pantanal is one of the world's largest wetland área and has in its hydrologic system soda lakes (salinas) that are considered extreme environments due to high pH values and high concentrations of salt, selecting organisms adapted to survive in this environment. Studies on the diversity in these soda lakes are scarce and on microbial biogeography of the Brazilian Pantanal does not exist. Therefore, the objective of this study is to identify and map the microbial diversity, taxonomic and functional in Pantanal soda lakes, evaluating the influence, across time, of chemical variables and historical events in the composition of these communities.Water samples will be collected from eight soda lakes, known locally as Salina 60,000, Salina Preta, Salina Grande, Salina Corridor 1, Salina Corridor 2, Salina Verde, Salina Redonda and Salina Mole. The sampling will be performed at the end of the rain (May) and dry (September) season. Physicochemical analyses of pH, electrical conductivity, water turbidity, temperature, dissolved oxygen, macro and micronutrients will be performed at each sampling to obtain environmental variables data. The DNA and RNA of the samples will be extracted and sequenced. The microbial community composition present in these soda lakes will be accessed through metagenomic sequencing. Real-time quantitative PCR analysis of the 16S and 18S rRNA genes, studied as phylogenetic markers, will be performed with the objective of quantifying microorganisms from the Archaea, Bacteria and Eukarya domains. From the data obtained by the metagenomic sequencing, the characterization of the metabolic potential of the soda lakes will be made and by the sequencing of the total RNA will be elucidated the metabolic pathways active in these environments. Also, the biogeographic patterns that determine the structure of the microbial communities of the Pantanal soda lakes will be studied, allowing a better understanding of the functionality of these ecosystems and the perception of which variables are directly influencing the microbial diversity of these Brazilian extreme environments.

Scientific publications

(6)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

RIGOTTO, A.; COTTA, S. R.; DIAS, A. C. F.; CARVALHO, J. L. N.; ANDREOTE, F. D.. Shifting abundances of communities associated with nitrogen cycling in soils promoted by sugarcane harvest systems. Letters in Applied Microbiology, JUL 2020. (18/24049-2, 13/50353-7)

RIGOTTO, A.; COTTA, S. R.; DIAS, A. C. F.; CARVALHO, J. L. N.; ANDREOTE, F. D.. Shifting abundances of communities associated with nitrogen cycling in soils promoted by sugarcane harvest systems. Letters in Applied Microbiology, v. 71, n. 5, p. 7-pg., 2020-07-29. (18/24049-2, 13/50353-7)

DEXTRO, RAFAEL B.; DELBAJE, ENDREWS; COTTA, SIMONE R.; ZEHR, JONATHAN P.; FIORE, MARLI F.. Trends in Free-access Genomic Data Accelerate Advances in Cyanobacteria Taxonomy. JOURNAL OF PHYCOLOGY, v. 57, n. 5, AUG 2021. (18/24049-2, 16/14227-5)

RODRIGUES, YASMIN FLORENTINO; ANDREOTE, FERNANDO DINI; SILVA, ANTONIO MARCOS MIRANDA; DIAS, ARMANDO CAVALCANTE FRANCO; TAKETANI, RODRIGO GOUVEA; COTTA, SIMONE RAPOSO. Disentangling the role of soil bacterial diversity in phosphorus transformation in the maize rhizosphere. APPLIED SOIL ECOLOGY, v. 182, p. 11-pg., 2023-02-01. (18/24049-2, 19/13436-8)

MACHADO, MAURICIO J.; DEXTRO, RAFAEL B.; CRUZ, RENATA B.; COTTA, SIMONE R.; FIORE, MARLI F.. Response of two cyanobacterial strains to non-biodegradable glitter particles. AQUATIC TOXICOLOGY, v. 260, p. 4-pg., 2023-05-26. (18/24049-2, 16/14227-5)

COTTA, SIMONE R.; PELLEGRINETTI, THIERRY A.; ANDREOTE, ANA PAULA D.; COSTA, JULIANA S.; SARMENTO, HUGO; FIORE, MARLI F.. Disentangling the lifestyle of bacterial communities in tropical soda lakes. SCIENTIFIC REPORTS, v. 12, n. 1, p. 10-pg., 2022-05-13. (18/24049-2, 16/14227-5, 17/12644-0)