Blue Lake, a newly discovered soda lake in Giresun Province, Türkiye, is characterized by alkaline water and moderate salinity, creating a unique and unexplored habitat for microorganisms. This study aimed to investigate the prokaryotic diversity of Blue Lake using both culture-dependent and culture-independent approaches and to evaluate the industrial enzyme-producing potential of the cultivable isolates. Physicochemical properties of water and sediment samples were analyzed, followed by 16S rRNA gene-based metagenomic sequencing and conventional cultivation techniques. Metagenomic analyses revealed a highly diverse prokaryotic community comprising 52 phyla and 311 species, with Proteobacteria being the dominant phylum (65.79 ± 4.94%) and Gammaproteobacteria being the most abundant class (46.58 ± 5.18%). Acinetobacter was identified as the predominant genus, while Sphingobacterium multivorum was the most prevalent species. A total of 87 bacterial isolates were obtained using culture-dependent methods, several of which exhibited significant enzymatic activities, including protease, lipase, amylase, cellulase, chitinase, and pectinase production. The presence of enzyme-producing alkaliphilic and halotolerant bacteria highlights the biotechnological and environmental potential of Blue Lake. This study provides the first integrated metagenomic and cultivation-based characterization of the prokaryotic ecosystem of Blue Lake, contributing valuable insights into soda lake microbiomes and their industrial relevance.
Gençer et al. (Fri,) studied this question.
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