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Metagenomic analysis reveals distinct microbial communities in saline water and sediments, suggesting ecological adaptations.
A metagenomic analysis of microbial communities in the water and sediments of the West Aral Sea, an extreme ecosystem with a salinity of 22%, was conducted for the first time. Halophilic archaea of the family Haloferacaceae and bacteria of the genus Spiribacter were found to predominate in the water, while Marinobacter sp. and Hydrogenovibrio halophilus predominated in the sediments. Numerous genes of heterotrophic metabolism were present in the metagenome-assembled genomes of Haloferacaceae, Spiribacter, and Marinobacter species, while genes for sulfur compounds oxidation and inorganic carbon assimilation were found in the H. halophilus genome.
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Bonch-Osmolovskaya et al. (2026) studied this question.
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