16S amplicon sequencing and functional gene prediction of microbial community in Inner West Aegean, Turkey

Abstract

Thermal springs are aquatic environments with high temperatures that often host thermophilic organisms which is important for an ecological and evolutionary perspective, as they have developed adaptation mechanisms to thrive at different temperatures based on their ideal growth requirements. This study analyzed water samples to identify thermophilic prokaryotic populations via 16S amplicon sequencing. The sequencing reads were processed using QIIME2 2023.2. Prediction of functional profiles were made using q2-picrust2. All the files generated were visualized using ggPICRUST2. Some species of Thermus, Hydrogenobacter subterraneus, Acinetobacter species, Geothermobacterium ferrireducens, Bacillus altitudinis complex, Flavobacterium lindanitolerans, and Thermomicrobium roseum were found in KTB. Moreover, the Acinetobacter calcoaceticus/baumannii complex, some species of Thermus, the Burkholderia cepacia complex, Hydrocarboniphaga daqingensis, Hydrogenophaga defluvii, Chromohalobacter salexigens, the Bacillus subtilis group, and Methylobacterium komagatae were found in the ATB. Component analysis revealed a difference in microbial diversity between the two samples. The predicted pathways included lipid metabolism, bacterial cell motility, glycan metabolism, and DNA replication and repair systems. ggPICRUST2 was utilized for prediction of functional profiles. These findings enhance the current knowledge of the microbiology of Kütahya and Afyonkarahisar thermal springs and enable comparisons with other geothermal systems.