Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Oct 26;10(5):e0199522.
doi: 10.1128/spectrum.01995-22. Epub 2022 Aug 24.

Culturomics of Bacteria from Radon-Saturated Water of the World's Oldest Radium Mine

Affiliations

Culturomics of Bacteria from Radon-Saturated Water of the World's Oldest Radium Mine

Gabriela Kapinusova et al. Microbiol Spectr. .

Abstract

Balneotherapeutic water springs, such as those with thermal, saline, sulfur, or any other characteristics, have recently been the subject of phylogenetic studies with a closer focus on the description and/or isolation of phylogenetically novel or biotechnologically interesting microorganisms. Generally, however, most such microorganisms are rarely obtained in pure culture or are even, for now, unculturable under laboratory conditions. In this culture-dependent study of radioactive water springs of Jáchymov (Joachimstahl), Czech Republic, we investigated a combination of classical cultivation approaches with those imitating sampling source conditions. Using these environmentally relevant cultivation approaches, over 1,000 pure cultures were successfully isolated from 4 radioactive springs. Subsequent dereplication yielded 121 unique taxonomic units spanning 44 genera and 9 taxonomic classes, ~10% of which were identified as hitherto undescribed taxa. Genomes of the latter were sequenced and analyzed, with a special focus on endogenous defense systems to withstand oxidative stress and aid in radiotolerance. Due to their origin from radioactive waters, we determined the resistance of the isolates to oxidative stress. Most of the isolates were more resistant to menadione than the model strain Deinococcus radiodurans DSM 20539T. Moreover, isolates of the Deinococcacecae, Micrococcaceae, Bacillaceae, Moraxellaceae, and Pseudomonadaceae families even exhibited higher resistance in the presence of hydrogen peroxide. In summary, our culturomic analysis shows that subsurface water springs contain diverse bacterial populations, including as-yet-undescribed taxa and strains with promising biotechnological potential. Furthermore, this study suggests that environmentally relevant cultivation techniques increase the efficiency of cultivation, thus enhancing the chance of isolating hitherto uncultured microorganisms. IMPORTANCE The mine Svornost in Jáchymov (Joachimstahl), Czech Republic is a former silver-uranium mine and the world's first and for a long time only radium mine, nowadays the deepest mine devoted to the extraction of water which is saturated with radon and has therapeutic benefits given its chemical properties. This healing water, which is approximately 13 thousand years old, is used under medical supervision for the treatment of patients with neurological and rheumatic disorders. Our culturomic approach using low concentrations of growth substrates or the environmental matrix itself (i.e., water filtrate) in culturing media combined with prolonged cultivation time resulted in the isolation of a broad spectrum of microorganisms from 4 radioactive springs of Jáchymov which are phylogenetically novel and/or bear various adaptive or coping mechanisms to thrive under selective pressure and can thus provide a wide spectrum of capabilities potentially exploitable in diverse scientific, biotechnological, or medical disciplines.

Keywords: environmentally relevant cultivation approaches; extremophiles; novel taxa; oxidative stress response; radioactive water springs; subsurface microbiology.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

FIG 1
FIG 1
Determination of media cultivation yields and proportion of isolated bacteria at the class level for each medium used, compiled from 1,095 non-dereplicated isolates obtained here.
FIG 2
FIG 2
(a) Relative abundance of dereplicated isolates (at the level of genus and class) in 4 radioactive water springs. (b) Phylogenetic tree showing evolutionary relationship of isolates. This Maximum Likelihood phylogenetic tree was constructed based on trimmed partial 16S rRNA gene sequences (V2-V4 regions, ~590 bp). Phylogenetically novel isolates are highlighted with red dots. The outer circle depicts the origin of isolates. A = Agricola, B = Běhounek, C = C1, D = Curie.
FIG 3
FIG 3
Response of bacterial isolates to menadione (a) and hydrogen peroxide (b). The response of individual isolates belonging to a particular family are plotted, with the ability of isolates to resist the oxidative stress deduced as an inhibition zone radius (mm) created around the soaked sterile discs. The boxplots were constructed from the values grouped according to their family members. The green line indicates the radius of the inhibition zone for the reference strain Deinococcus radiodurans DSM 20539T.
FIG 4
FIG 4
Response to induced oxidative stress as zone of clearance upon exposure of strains to hydrogen peroxide and menadione (a) and presence of genes (shown as a gene copy per genome) involved in endogenous defense mechanism (EDM), including antioxidant defense genes (b) and completeness of diverse carotenoid biosynthesis pathway (c) in genomes of phylogenetically novel taxa from Jáchymov’s radon water springs.
FIG 5
FIG 5
Spearman's rank correlation analysis representing relationship between response to induced oxidative stress (menadione and hydrogen peroxide) and the presence of endogenous defense genes. The positive correlation (RED) implies a proportionate abundance of the genes and thereby an active response toward the induced oxidative stress and vice-versa. Significant correlations are denoted with an asterisk (where ***, P ≤ 0.001; **, P ≤ 0.01; *, P ≤ 0.05).

Similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Najar IN, Sherpa MT, Das S, Das S, Thakur N. 2018. Microbial ecology of two hot springs of Sikkim: predominate population and geochemistry. Science of The Total Environment 637–638:730–745. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.05.037. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Porowski A. 2019. Mineral and Thermal Waters, p 149–181. In LaMoreaux JW (ed), Environmental Geology. Springer US, New York, NY.
    1. Perreault NN, Andersen DT, Pollard WH, Greer CW, Whyte LG. 2007. Characterization of the prokaryotic diversity in cold saline perennial springs of the Canadian high Arctic. Appl Environ Microbiol 73:1532–1543. doi:10.1128/AEM.01729-06. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Power JF, Carere CR, Lee CK, Wakerley GLJ, Evans DW, Button M, White D, Climo MD, Hinze AM, Morgan XC, McDonald IR, Cary SC, Stott MB. 2018. Microbial biogeography of 925 geothermal springs in New Zealand. Nat Commun 9:2876. doi:10.1038/s41467-018-05020-y. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Fenchel T. 2003. Microbiology. Biogeography for bacteria. Science 301:925–926. doi:10.1126/science.1089242. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

-