Feng Xiaoyuan, Xing Peng, Tao Ye, Wang Xiaojun, Wu Qinglong L, Liu Yongqin, Luo Haiwei
Key Laboratory of Lake and Watershed Science for Water Security, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China.
Shenzhen Research Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, China.
Microbiome. 2024 Dec 20;12(1):264. doi: 10.1186/s40168-024-01979-7.
Tibetan Plateau is credited as the "Third Pole" after the Arctic and the Antarctic, and lakes there represent a pristine habitat ideal for studying microbial processes under climate change.
Here, we collected 169 samples from 54 lakes including those from the central Tibetan region that was underrepresented previously, grouped them to freshwater, brackish, and saline lakes, and generated a genome atlas of the Tibetan Plateau Lake Microbiome. This genomic atlas comprises 8271 metagenome-assembled genomes featured by having significant phylogenetic and functional novelty. The microbiomes of freshwater lakes are enriched with genes involved in recalcitrant carbon degradation, carbon fixation, and energy transformation, whereas those of saline lakes possess more genes that encode osmolyte transport and synthesis and enable anaerobic metabolism. These distinct metabolic features match well with the geochemical properties including dissolved organic carbon, dissolved oxygen, and salinity that distinguish between these lakes. Population genomic analysis suggests that microbial populations in saline lakes are under stronger functional constraints than those in freshwater lakes. Although microbiomes in the Tibet lakes, particularly the saline lakes, may be subject to changing selective regimes due to ongoing warming, they may also benefit from the drainage reorganization and metapopulation reconnection.
Altogether, the Tibetan Plateau Lake Microbiome atlas serves as a valuable microbial genetic resource for biodiversity conservation and climate research. Video Abstract.
青藏高原被誉为继北极和南极之后的“第三极”，那里的湖泊是研究气候变化下微生物过程的理想原始栖息地。
在这里，我们从54个湖泊中收集了169个样本，包括以前代表性不足的藏区中部的湖泊，将它们分为淡水湖、咸水湖和盐湖，并生成了青藏高原湖泊微生物组的基因组图谱。这个基因组图谱包含8271个宏基因组组装基因组，具有显著的系统发育和功能新颖性。淡水湖的微生物组富含参与顽固性碳降解、碳固定和能量转化的基因，而盐湖的微生物组拥有更多编码渗透溶质运输和合成以及实现厌氧代谢的基因。这些不同的代谢特征与区分这些湖泊的地球化学性质（包括溶解有机碳、溶解氧和盐度）非常匹配。群体基因组分析表明，盐湖中的微生物群体比淡水湖中的受到更强的功能限制。尽管西藏湖泊中的微生物组，特别是盐湖中的微生物组，可能由于持续变暖而面临不断变化的选择机制，但它们也可能受益于排水系统的重组和集合种群的重新连接。
总之，青藏高原湖泊微生物组图谱是生物多样性保护和气候研究的宝贵微生物遗传资源。视频摘要。
