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Prokaryotic diversity of a Tunisian multipond solar saltern

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Abstract

16S rRNA gene clone libraries were separately constructed from three ponds with different salt concentrations, M2 (15%), TS38 (25%) and S5 (32%), located within a multipond solar saltern of Sfax. The 16S rRNA genes from 216 bacterial clones and 156 archaeal clones were sequenced and phylogenetically analyzed. 44 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were generated for Bacteria and 67 for Archaea. Phylogenetic groups within the bacterial domain were restricted to Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria, with the exception that one cyanobacterial OTU was found in the TS38 pond. 85.7, 26.6 and 25.0% of the bacterial OTUs from M2, TS38 and S5 ponds, respectively, are novel. All archaeal 16S rRNA gene sequences were exclusively affiliated with Euryarchaeota. 75.0, 60.0 and 66.7% of the OTUs from, respectively, M2, TS38 and S5 ponds are novel. The result showed that the Tunisian multipond solar saltern harbored novel prokaryotic diversity that has never been reported before for solar salterns. In addition, diversity measurement indicated a decrease of bacterial diversity and an increase of archaeal diversity with rising salinity gradient, which was in agreement with the previous observation for thalassohaline systems. Comparative analysis showed that prokaryotic diversity of Tunisian saltern was higher than that of other salterns previously studied.

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Acknowledgments

We are very grateful to Mr. S. Cure for reading the manuscript, Professor A. Rebai (Centre of Biotechnology in Sfax, Tunisia) for constructive discussion, and the technical assistance of the Genoscope sequencing and bioinformatics teams. We thank also the staff of the solar saltern of Sfax for allowing access to the saltern and sampling.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ecole Nationale d’Ingénieurs de Sfax, UR Etude et Gestion des Environnements Côtiers et Urbains, BP “W” - 3038, Sfax, Tunisia

    Houda Baati & Emna Ammar

  2. Université d’Evry Val d’Essonne, 2, rue Gaston Crémieux, 91057, Evry, France

    Sonda Guermazi & Abdelghani Sghir

  3. CNRS-UMR 8030- CE, Evry, France

    Sonda Guermazi & Abdelghani Sghir

  4. CEA- Genoscope, Le Pecq, France

    Sonda Guermazi & Abdelghani Sghir

  5. Laboratoire d’Analyse, Compagnie Générale des Salines Tunisiennes (COTUSAL), Route Gabes km 0,5, 3018, Sfax, Tunisia

    Ridha Amdouni

  6. Laboratoire de Biotechnologie Microbienne, Faculté des Sciences de Sfax, B.P. 802, 3018, Sfax, Tunisia

    Neji Gharsallah

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  1. Houda Baati
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  2. Sonda Guermazi
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  3. Ridha Amdouni
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  4. Neji Gharsallah
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  5. Abdelghani Sghir
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Emna Ammar.

Additional information

Communicated by L. Huang.

A. Sghir and E. Ammar have equally contributed to this work.

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Baati, H., Guermazi, S., Amdouni, R. et al. Prokaryotic diversity of a Tunisian multipond solar saltern. Extremophiles 12, 505–518 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00792-008-0154-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00792-008-0154-x

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