How culturomics unlocks acid mine drainage's hidden microbial universe (IMAGE)
Caption
How culturomics unlocks acid mine drainage's hidden microbial universe. This graphical summary illustrates the study's workflow and key findings. Researchers collected acid mine drainage (AMD) samples (pH ~2.5) from diverse habitats including mine tailings and weathered minerals. Using 12 culture conditions (Fe²⁺, S⁰, organic media at 30 °C and 45 °C), they built the Microbial Biobank of AMD (mbAMD), which comprises 42 species (21 novel) across 22 genera and 13 families, covering 86.7 % of core AMD bacterial taxa identified from 226 metagenomic datasets. Functional assays confirmed 36 taxa with active iron or sulfur metabolism. Comparative genomics revealed that horizontal gene transfer (HGT) drives extremophile adaptation, with adaptive genes for acid tolerance, metal resistance and energy pathways preferentially acquired from phylogenetically close relatives.
Credit
Environmental Science and Ecotechnology
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