Ancient and remote quartzite caves as a novel source of culturable microbes with biotechnological potential.

Autor: Ghezzi D; Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, University of Bologna, Bologna 40126, Italy., Salvi L; Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, University of Bologna, Bologna 40126, Italy., Costantini PE; Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, University of Bologna, Bologna 40126, Italy., Firrincieli A; Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, University of Bologna, Bologna 40126, Italy; Department for Innovation in Biological, Agro-Food and Forest systems, University of Tuscia, Viterbo 01100, Italy., Iorio M; NAICONS Srl, Milan 20139, Italy., Lopo E; Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, University of Bologna, Bologna 40126, Italy., Sosio M; NAICONS Srl, Milan 20139, Italy., Elbanna AH; Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia; Department of Pharmacognosy, Cairo University, Cairo 11562, Egypt., Khalil ZG; Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia., Capon RJ; Institute for Molecular Bioscience, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072, Australia., De Waele J; Department of Biological, Geological, and Environmental Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna 40126, Italy; La Venta Geographic Explorations Association, Treviso 31100, Italy., Vergara F; La Venta Geographic Explorations Association, Treviso 31100, Italy; Teraphosa Exploring Team, Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela., Sauro F; La Venta Geographic Explorations Association, Treviso 31100, Italy., Cappelletti M; Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, University of Bologna, Bologna 40126, Italy; La Venta Geographic Explorations Association, Treviso 31100, Italy. Electronic address: martina.cappelletti2@unibo.it.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Microbiological research [Microbiol Res] 2024 Sep; Vol. 286, pp. 127793. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Jun 11.
DOI: 10.1016/j.micres.2024.127793
Abstrakt: Quartzite caves located on table-top mountains (tepuis) in the Guyana Shield, are ancient, remote, and pristine subterranean environments where microbes have evolved peculiar metabolic strategies to thrive in silica-rich, slightly acidic and oligotrophic conditions. In this study, we explored the culturable fraction of the microbiota inhabiting the (ortho)quartzite cave systems in Venezuelan tepui (remote table-top mountains) and we investigated their metabolic and enzymatic activities in relation with silica solubilization and extracellular hydrolytic activities as well as the capacity to produce antimicrobial compounds. Eighty microbial strains were isolated with a range of different enzymatic capabilities. More than half of the isolated strains performed at least three enzymatic activities and four bacterial strains displayed antimicrobial activities. The antimicrobial producers Paraburkholderia bryophila CMB_CA002 and Sphingomonas sp. MEM_CA187, were further analyzed by conducting chemotaxonomy, phylogenomics, and phenomics. While the isolate MEM_CA187 represents a novel species of the genus Sphingomonas, for which the name Sphingomonas imawarii sp. nov. is proposed, P. bryophila CMB_CA002 is affiliated with a few strains of the same species that are antimicrobial producers. Chemical analyses demonstrated that CMB_CA002 produces ditropolonyl sulfide that has a broad range of activity and a possibly novel siderophore. Although the antimicrobial compounds produced by MEM_CA187 could not be identified through HPLC-MS analysis due to the absence of reference compounds, it represents the first soil-associated Sphingomonas strain with the capacity to produce antimicrobials. This work provides first insights into the metabolic potential present in quartzite cave systems pointing out that these environments are a novel and still understudied source of microbial strains with biotechnological potential.
Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest There is no conflict of interest among the authors.
(Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier GmbH.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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