Puente Sanchez, Fernando
- Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Abstract
The hypersaline soils of the Odiel Saltmarshes Natural Area in Southwest Spain harbor highly diverse microbial communities adapted to extreme conditions. However, their genomic diversity remains largely unexplored. In addition to high salinity, these soils are contaminated with heavy metals, creating a hostile environment of great interest for studying extremophilic microorganisms and their metabolic adaptations. This study aims to characterize the uncovered prokaryotic taxa as Candidatus species inhabiting the hypersaline soils of the Odiel Saltmarshes, based on their metagenomic assembled genomic sequences. The reconstructed genomes were assessed for quality based on completeness and contamination thresholds and subsequently taxonomically classified. Comparative genomic analysis of six high-quality MAGs revealed key metabolic traits related to survival under extreme salinity and heavy metal conditions. The findings provide new insights about microbial diversity of hypersaline environments and expand the catalog of known prokaryotic genomes. Detailed characterization of six novel Candidatus taxa highlights the unique adaptations of these microorganisms, enhancing our understanding of life in extreme habitats.
Keywords
hypersaline soils; prokaryotic diversity; Candidatus; heavy metal tolerance; osmoregulation
Published in
Microorganisms
2026, volume: 14, number: 2, article number: 489
Publisher: MDPI
SLU Authors
Bertilsson, Stefan
- Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
- Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
UKÄ Subject classification
Soil Science
Publication identifier
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms14020489
Permanent link to this page (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/146490