Morphological and Molecular Characterization of Cyanobacteria Isolated from Two Geothermal Springs of the Central Ecuadorian Andes

Geothermal springs are scattered worldwide and harbor thermophilic cyanobacteria, whose species distribution depends on extreme environmental conditions. The optical growth of cyanobacteria in hot springs and their metabolic diversity represent a source for possible biotechnological tools. In the current study, we isolated and characterized the cyanobacterial community of water samples from El Salado and Papallacta geothermal springs in Ecuador. We employed a culture-dependent as well as a polyphasic approach, which includes morphological examination by light microscopy, molecular analysis of <i>16S</i> and <i>23S</i> rRNA genes, and phylogenetic position using the maximum likelihood method. Notably, the morphological and molecular analyses complemented each other. Furthermore, we isolated eleven strains that belong to the taxa <i>Tenebriella amphibia</i>, <i>Calothrix</i>, <i>Planktothricoides</i> raciborskii, <i>Nostoc</i>, <i>Fischerella muscicola</i>, <i>Leptolyngbya</i>, <i>Synechococcus</i>, <i>Komvophoron jovis</i>, Chroococcales and Nostocacea. Both hot springs, whose temperature ranged between 45 and 54 °C, could harbor cosmopolitan and endemic cyanobacteria. Our study establishes a baseline for future efforts to exploit potential biotechnological tools bioprospected from these isolated microorganisms.