Metabarcoding of the microbial community inhabiting the phosphogypsum stockpiles of the city of Huelva (SW, Spain)

In this work, metabarcoding of 16S and 18S rRNA gene coding sequences were
employed to characterize the prokaryotic and eukaryotic
communities in the phosphogypsum stacks located in the city of Huelva (SW
Spain). In this environment around 100 Mt of phosphogypsum with
extreme acidity and high concentrations of heavy metals and radionuclides
have been accumulated for more than forty years on the marshlands of the
Tinto River estuary. The microbial community inhabiting these adverse
conditions remains unknown, although it can have an effect on the
biogeochemical cycle of the phosphogypsum components and contain new
species with biotechnological interest.