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Archaeal and bacterial communities of heavy metal contaminated acidic waters from zinc mine residues in Sepetiba Bay

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Abstract

Mining of metallic sulfide ore produces acidic water with high metal concentrations that have harmful consequences for aquatic life. To understand the composition and structure of microbial communities in acid mine drainage (AMD) waters associated with Zn mine tailings, molecular diversity of 16S genes was examined using a PCR, cloning, and sequencing approach. A total of 78 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were obtained from samples collected at five different sites in and around mining residues in Sepetiba Bay, Brazil. We analyzed metal concentration, physical, chemical, and microbiological parameters related to prokaryotic diversity in low metal impacted compared to highly polluted environments with Zn at level of gram per liter and Cd–Pb at level of microgram per liter. Application of molecular methods for community structure analyses showed that Archaea and Bacteria groups present a phylogenetic relationship with uncultured environmental organisms. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that bacteria present at the five sites fell into seven known divisions, α-Proteobacteria (13.4%), β-Proteobacteria (16.3%), γ-Proteobacteria (4.3%), Sphingobacteriales (4.3%), Actinobacteria (3.2%) Acidobacteria (2.1%), Cyanobacteria (11.9%), and unclassified bacteria (44.5%). Almost all archaeal clones were related to uncultivated Crenarchaeota species, which were shared between high impacted and low impacted waters. Rarefaction curves showed that bacterial groups are more diverse than archaeal groups while the overall prokaryotic biodiversity is lower in high metal impacted environments than in less polluted habitats. Knowledge of this microbial community structure will help in understanding prokaryotic diversity, biogeography, and the role of microorganisms in zinc smelting AMD generation and perhaps it may be exploited for environmental remediation procedures in this area.

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Acknowledgments

We acknowledge the Genome Sequencing facilities core Johanna Döbereiner at IBqM/UFRJ, the Limnology Laboratory of UFRJ for access to liquid scintillator. We are grateful to João Paulo M. Torres and Valéria Magalhães for manuscript review. This work was supported by Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ), Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Ensino Superior (CAPES), and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Instituto de Bioquímica Médica, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Centro de Ciências da Saúde, Bloco D, subsolo, sala 5, Rio de Janeiro, 21941-590, Brazil

    Welington I. Almeida, Ricardo P. Vieira, Alexander Machado Cardoso, Cynthia B. Silveira, Rebeca G. Costa & Orlando B. Martins

  2. Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, 21941-590, Brazil

    Ricardo P. Vieira, Alessandra M. Gonzalez & Rodolfo Paranhos

  3. Instituto de Química, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, 21941-590, Brazil

    João A. Medeiros

  4. Centro Universitário Estadual da Zona Oeste, Rio de Janeiro, 23070-200, Brazil

    Alexander Machado Cardoso

  5. Departamento de Bioquímica, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, 20551-013, Brazil

    Flávia A. Freitas & Rodolpho M. Albano

Authors
  1. Welington I. Almeida
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  2. Ricardo P. Vieira
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  3. Alexander Machado Cardoso
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  5. Rebeca G. Costa
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  6. Alessandra M. Gonzalez
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  7. Rodolfo Paranhos
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  8. João A. Medeiros
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  9. Flávia A. Freitas
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  10. Rodolpho M. Albano
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  11. Orlando B. Martins
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alexander Machado Cardoso.

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Communicated by L. Huang.

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Almeida, W.I., Vieira, R.P., Cardoso, A.M. et al. Archaeal and bacterial communities of heavy metal contaminated acidic waters from zinc mine residues in Sepetiba Bay. Extremophiles 13, 263–271 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00792-008-0214-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00792-008-0214-2

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