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The prokaryotic community of a historically mining-impacted tropical stream sediment is as diverse as that from a pristine stream sediment

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Abstract

Mining negatively affects the environment by producing large quantities of metallic tailings, such as those contaminated with arsenic, with harmful consequences for human and aquatic life. A culture-independent molecular analysis was performed to assess the prokaryotic diversity and community structural changes of the tropical historically metal-contaminated Mina stream (MS) and the relatively pristine Mutuca stream (MTS) sediments. A total of 234 bacterial operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were affiliated with 14 (MS) and 17 (MTS) phyla and 53 OTUs were associated with two archaeal phyla. Although the bacterial community compositions of these sediments were markedly distinct, no significant difference in the diversity indices between the bacterial communities was observed. Additionally, the rarefaction and diversity indices indicated a higher bacterial diversity than archaeal diversity. Most of the OTUs were affiliated with the Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes phyla. Alphaproteobacteria, Gemmatimonadetes and Actinobacteria were only found in the MS clone library. Crenarchaeal 16S rDNA sequences constituted 75 % of the MS archaeal clones, whereas Euryarchaeota were dominant in the MTS clones. Despite the markedly different characteristics of these streams, their bacterial communities harbor high diversity, suggesting that historically mining-impacted sediments promote diversity. The findings also provide basis for further investigation of members of Alphaproteobacteria as potential biological indicators of arsenic-rich sediments.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG), the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), the Pró-Reitoria de Pesquisa da UFMG (PRPq) and the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) in the form of a scholarship to Mariana P. Reis. We appreciate the support technical from Laboratório de Análises Químicas/DEMET/UFMG do Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia em Recursos Minerais, Água e Biodiversidade—INCT—ACQUA in the chemical analyses and Thais Amaral for cartographic support. A.M.A.N. is a recipient of CNPq fellowships.

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  1. Departamento de Biologia Geral, Instituto de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Av. Antônio Carlos 6627, Belo Horizonte, MG, 31.270-901, Brazil

    Mariana P. Reis, Francisco A. R. Barbosa, Edmar Chartone-Souza & Andréa M. A. Nascimento

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  1. Mariana P. Reis
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  2. Francisco A. R. Barbosa
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  3. Edmar Chartone-Souza
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  4. Andréa M. A. Nascimento
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Correspondence to Andréa M. A. Nascimento.

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Reis, M.P., Barbosa, F.A.R., Chartone-Souza, E. et al. The prokaryotic community of a historically mining-impacted tropical stream sediment is as diverse as that from a pristine stream sediment. Extremophiles 17, 301–309 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00792-013-0517-9

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