ENDOLITHIC MICROORGANISMS

The aim of this study was to identify cyanobacteria diversity in rock communitiesfrom the cold desert ecosystem in Eastern Pamir Mountains (Tajikistan) and assess if the rock type and rock`s porosity can be indicators of microbial diversity in thisextreme environment. Seven samples were collected in July 2015 from hillsides (ca. 4000-4500 m a.s.l.) of the Eastern Pamir Mountains. Based on next-generation sequencing (NGS) of amplicon of V3-V4 hypervariable region of 16S rRNA gene, we established that Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria and Cyanobacteria dominated the endolithic communities of microorganisms in the rocks studied.