Tengchong hot springs in-situ minerals microcosm

Minerals provide physical niches and supply nutrients or serve as electron donors/acceptors for microorganism survival and growth, and thus minerals and microbes co-evolved. Much attention has been paid to decipher mineral-microbe interaction in terrestrial soil and aquatic environments. Yet, little is known about how microbial species, water geochemistry and sediment minerals interact with each other in hot springs and to what extent mineralogical composition influence microbial community composition and diversity. Here the field sampling and in-situ microcosm experiments in which mineral specimens of aragonite, albite, feldspar and quartz were conducted for 70 days in both silicate-hosted alkaline spring (i.e., Gmq) and carbonate-hosted neutral hot spring (i.e., Gxs) to reveal the influence of minerals on thermophiles in Tengchong hot springs. We compared the changes in microbial community composition and diversity between bulk water and mineral cultures by using high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA gene. Taken together, our results highlight the special niche partitioning determined by mineralogical compositions and carbonate minerals help to relieve the harsh conditions for microbial survival, serving as a selection force for species in hot springs.