Planktonic Microbial Communities of Thermokarst Lakes of Central Yakutia Demonstrate a High Diversity of Uncultivated Prokaryotes with Uncharacterized Functions

Abstract

Although thermokarst alas lakes of Central Yakutia are of great climatic and economic importance, there is currently virtually no information on microbial communities and microbial processes in these lakes. This paper characterizes the hydrochemical features and presents a primary analysis of the diversity of planktonic microbial communities in three alas lakes of Central Yakutia—Tyungulyu, Taby, and Kharyyalakh. It was shown that in terms of the water physicochemical composition, the studied lakes were quite typical for this region; they had increased alkalinity and trophicity, but differed from each other in microbiological indicators. Chemoheterotrophic prokaryotes predominated in the studied planktonic communities, but a significant proportion of the 16S rRNA gene sequences were most similar to uncultured microorganisms whose functional potential is still unknown.