Bacterial community structure and metabolic potential in microbialite-forming mats from South Australian saline-to-hypersaline lakes

This study investigated the composition and diversity of bacterial communities and their metabolic potential in microbialite-forming mats located in South Australian coastal lakes using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. The PICRUSt2 pipeline was employed to infer functional capacity from amplicon sequence variants (ASVs). Metabolic pathways and associated taxa important for microbialite formation were predicted/identified and discussed.