Metagenomics reveal unrestricted dispersal of extreme halophiles and higher connectivity among coastal vs. inland solar salterns and hypersaline lakes

Abstract Hypersaline environments constitute ideal systems for studying evolutionary processes and microbial diversification due to their relatively low (and thus tractable) diversity and geographically isolated nature. Based on metagenomic sequencing of samples from 25 hypersaline sites in 11 countries taken within a single year, we explored the relationships between environmental factors, geographic distance, and microbial community structure and diversification. Our results revealed that microbial communities of coastal sites were more similar to each other than those of the inland sites, reflecting higher connectivity due to ocean currents and nearly unrestricted dispersal. Conversely, inland hypersaline environments showed less connectivity and higher genetic and taxonomic dissimilarities that did not correlate with the distance between the sampled sites. The latter results reflect reduced species migration characterizing inland sites as well as site-specific environmental factors selecting for divergent taxa. The 484 MAGs recovered, representing 284 distinct species, revealed a striking global ubiquity, with 62.5% of the species showing cosmopolitanism, defined as being present at both coastal and inland sites. Most cosmopolitan species showed allopatric differentiation, reflected by an increased frequency of non-synonymous substitutions between MAGs of the same species recovered from more distant sites. However, a few cases of truly cosmopolitan genomovars (average nucleotide identity, or ANI > 99.8%), were also observed. Our results suggest that extreme halophiles have nearly unrestricted global dispersal among ocean-connected sites, and to a lesser extent, among geographically isolated inland sites, although cases of allopatric diversification were also observed.

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Publication Details

Journal
ISME Communications
Published
2026-06-13
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1093/ismeco/ycag165
Primary Topic
Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology
Type
article
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article

Metagenomics reveal unrestricted dispersal of extreme halophiles and higher connectivity among coastal vs. inland solar salterns and hypersaline lakes

Borja Aldeguer‐Riquelme, Fernando Santos, Luis M. Rodriguez‐R, Ana S. Ramírez et al.
ISME Communications
Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology
article

Metagenomics reveal unrestricted dispersal of extreme halophiles and higher connectivity among coastal vs. inland solar salterns and hypersaline lakes

Borja Aldeguer‐Riquelme, Fernando Santos, Luis M. Rodriguez‐R, Ana S. Ramírez, Bernardo González, Rudolf Amann, Horia Leonard Banciu, Souad Amiour, Bonnie K. Baxter, Juan F. Gago, Matthew B. Stott, Brian P. Hedlund, Tomeu Viver, María Eugenia Llames, Gustavo Rodríguez-Valdecantos, Esteban Bustos-Caparros, S Venter, Aharon Oren, Mehmet Burçin Mutlu, Josefa Antón, Ramon Rosselló-Móra, Luciana Albuquerque, Konstantinos T Konstantinidis
article en

Abstract

Abstract Hypersaline environments constitute ideal systems for studying evolutionary processes and microbial diversification due to their relatively low (and thus tractable) diversity and geographically isolated nature. Based on metagenomic sequencing of samples from 25 hypersaline sites in 11 countries taken within a single year, we explored the relationships between environmental factors, geographic distance, and microbial community structure and diversification. Our results revealed that microbial communities of coastal sites were more similar to each other than those of the inland sites, reflecting higher connectivity due to ocean currents and nearly unrestricted dispersal. Conversely, inland hypersaline environments showed less connectivity and higher genetic and taxonomic dissimilarities that did not correlate with the distance between the sampled sites. The latter results reflect reduced species migration characterizing inland sites as well as site-specific environmental factors selecting for divergent taxa. The 484 MAGs recovered, representing 284 distinct species, revealed a striking global ubiquity, with 62.5% of the species showing cosmopolitanism, defined as being present at both coastal and inland sites. Most cosmopolitan species showed allopatric differentiation, reflected by an increased frequency of non-synonymous substitutions between MAGs of the same species recovered from more distant sites. However, a few cases of truly cosmopolitan genomovars (average nucleotide identity, or ANI > 99.8%), were also observed. Our results suggest that extreme halophiles have nearly unrestricted global dispersal among ocean-connected sites, and to a lesser extent, among geographically isolated inland sites, although cases of allopatric diversification were also observed.

ISME Communications
Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ES), University of Alicante (ES), Georgia Institute of Technology (US), University of Nevada, Las Vegas (US), Westminster University (US), University of Canterbury (NZ), Universität Innsbruck (AT), Hebrew University of Jerusalem (IL), Adolfo Ibáñez University (CL), Babeș-Bolyai University (RO), Eskisehir Technical University (TR), Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies (SI), Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology (DE), Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (HU), Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies (ES), Center for Innovation (US), Bioengineering Center (RU), Instituto Tecnológico de Chascomús (AR), University of Pretoria (ZA)
Life below water
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Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology
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