Diversity and functional structure of microbial communities in water from a mining pit and lagoon of rejects of a disabled mining region

Author(s)

Milena Tavares Lima Constancio

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: Jaboticabal. 2018-02-23.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp). Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias. Jaboticabal
• Defense date: 2018-01-29
• Advisor: Eliana Gertrudes de Macedo Lemos

Abstract

The interest in the study of microbial communities of low evaluated, impacted or extreme environments has increased significantly. Among the studied environments, there is the wastewater from mining areas. Due to the large number of reject pits and lagoons generated by the mining activity and the lack of study of this theme in Brazil, this study was developed to evaluate the taxonomy and functional capacity of the microbial community. The water samples were collected from a mining pit and a reject lagoon from a region formerly used for iron extraction at the Biodiversity Center (CeBio) from VALE/SA, in Sabará/MG. Analyzes of the metabolic activity profile indicated an excellent performance regarding the degradation of different compounds. Moreover, the isolation with traditional methods of culture showed that some bacteria have the capacity to produce different enzymes of biotechnological interest. The DNA was extracted and sequenced using metagenomic techniques, the 16S rRNA gene sequencing was performed on the Ion PGM™ platform. This analysis, in addition to revealing the taxonomy of the community present in the water of the pit and the lagoon, identified the functional profile indicating enrichment of important subsystems for the studied samples. In addition to the water from the mining pit, the total DNA sequencing was carried out on the ION Proton™ platform, which, through analysis with the SEED database, revealed genes associated with cell maintenance and the nitrogen cycle, suggesting that the microbial community is well adapted to the recovery process of the area. Also, the predicted ORfs from metagenomic were used for an analysis in the BacMet database that revealed an abundance of genes related to resistance to metals. Thus, our data expand the knowledge about the structure and functional capacity of microbial communities in impacted aquatic environments, providing a better understanding of the role of microorganisms in natural remediation processes. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 14/07592-3 - Search for genes involved in bioremediation in metagenomic DNA samples of pond water pit and dam waste of a disused mining region
• Grantee: Milena Tavares Lima Constancio
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate