Salinity constraints on subsurface archaeal diversity and methanogenesis in sedimentary rock rich in organic matter

The diversity of microorganisms active within sedimentary rocks provides important controls on the geochemistry of many subsurface environments. In particular, biodegradation of organic matter in sedimentary rocks contributes to the biogeochemical cycling of carbon and other elements and strongly impacts the recovery and quality of fossil fuel resources. In this study, archaeal diversity was investigated along a salinity gradient spanning 8 to 3,490 mM Cl(-) in a subsurface shale rich in CH(4) derived from biodegradation of sedimentary hydrocarbons. Shale pore waters collected from wells in the main CH(4)-producing zone lacked electron acceptors such as O(2), NO(3)(-), Fe(3+), or SO(4)(2-). Acetate was detected only in high-salinity waters, suggesting that acetoclastic methanogenesis is inhibited at Cl(-) concentrations above approximately 1,000 mM. Most-probable-number series revealed differences in methanogen substrate utilization (acetate, trimethylamine, or H(2)/CO(2)) associated with chlorinity. The greatest methane production in enrichment cultures was observed for incubations with salinity at or close to the native pore water salinity of the inoculum. Restriction fragment length polymorphism analyses of archaeal 16S rRNA genes from seven wells indicated that there were links between archaeal communities and pore water salinity. Archaeal clone libraries constructed from sequences from 16S rRNA genes isolated from two wells revealed phylotypes similar to a halophilic methylotrophic Methanohalophilus species and a hydrogenotrophic Methanoplanus species at high salinity and a single phylotype closely related to Methanocorpusculum bavaricum at low salinity. These results show that several distinct communities of methanogens persist in this subsurface, CH(4)-producing environment and that each community is adapted to particular conditions of salinity and preferential substrate use and each community induces distinct geochemical signatures in shale formation waters.     

昆明盐矿古老岩盐沉积中的原核生物多样性

应用PCR-DGGE和rRNA分析法研究了昆明盐矿古老岩盐沉积中的原核生物多样性。样品的细菌DGGE分析得到27条带,古菌得到18条带。样品与纯培养得到的19个属菌株的DGGE图谱对比分析发现,细菌18个属菌株,只有1个属菌株与样品中的1条带迁移位置都不一致;古菌1个属的菌株不与样品中任何条带迁移位置一致。表明纯培养所得菌株并非该环境中的优势类群。同时,建立了样品细菌和古菌的16S rDNA克隆文库,从中分别挑取36个细菌克隆和20个古菌克隆进行ARDRA分析。细菌可分为10个OTUs,其中3个OTUs是优势类群,分别占38.9%,25.0%,16.7%,其余7个OTUs各含有1个克隆。古菌分为8个OTUs,没有明显的优势类群。每个OTU的代表克隆16S rDNA序列分析表明,细菌分属3大类群:α-Proteobacteria,γ-Proteobacteria和Actinobacteria,以Pseudomonas属菌为优势,含有其它岩盐沉积中没有发现的Actinobacteria。古菌主要是Halorubrum属、Haloterrigena属菌和未培养古菌。本研究表明,昆明盐矿古老岩盐沉积具有较丰富的原核生物多样性,含有大量未知的、未培养或不可培养的原核生物,但在原核生物物种组成和丰度上,免培养与此前的纯培养研究结果存在一定差异。因此,结合使用两类方法才能较全面地认识高盐极端环境微生物的多样性。     

Response of Archaeal Community Structure to Environmental Changes in Lakes on the Tibetan Plateau,Northwestern China

To study how archaeal community responds to environmental changes, we investigated archaeal community structures in waters of three Tibetan saline lakes in northwestern China (Gahai, Xiaochaidan, and Charhan Lakes) with 16S rRNA gene phylogenetic analysis. Temperature, pH, and water chemistry (major anions and cations) of the lakes were measured. Three archaeal clone libraries were constructed with a total of 297 sequences. Incorporating our previous data obtained from other lakes on the Tibetan Plateau, we performed statistical analyses to identify dominant environmental parameters that could account for the observed variations in archaeal community structure. We concluded that salinity and water chemistry (Na and bicarbonate concentration in particular) played an important role in shaping archaeal community. In particular, the relative abundance of archaeal 16S rRNA genes affiliated with the Halobacteriales of the Euryarchaeota increased with salinity, whereas that of crenarchaeotal 16S rRNA gene sequences showed the opposite trend. Crenarchaeotal 16S rRNA gene sequences were retrieved from lake waters with salinity up to 28.3%. These results have important implications for our understanding of response of archaeal community to environmental changes in high-altitude lake ecosystems.     

Archaeal diversity in naturally occurring and impacted environments from a tropical region

AIMS: To evaluate archaeal diversity in natural and impacted habitats from Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, a tropical region of South America. METHODS AND RESULTS: 16S rRNA gene was amplified directly by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) from genomic DNA, extracted from Guanabara Bay (GB) water, halomarine sediment (HS), municipal landfill leachate, agricultural soil and wastewater treatment (WT) system. Five archaeal 16S rDNA clone libraries were constructed. A total of 123 clones, within the five libraries analysed, were clustered into 29 operational taxonomic units, related to cultivated (24%) and uncultivated (76%) organisms. Rarefaction analysis showed that the libraries contained different levels of diversity. PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) of 16S-23S intergenic spacer regions confirmed the presence of a dominant phylotype, revealed by the WT system clone library. CONCLUSIONS: Archaeal communities of impacted environments seem to be confined to specific ecosystems with similar physicochemical properties, while communities from natural environments appear to be widely distributed. The presence of a high number of phylotypes related to uncultivated organisms suggests new archaeal lineages. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: This study reports, for the first time, the analysis of archaeal diversity in tropical environments from Brazil, and adds sequences from this region to the developing database of 16S rRNA clone libraries from environmental samples.     

海南东寨港红树林不同植被土壤微生物群落结构比较

【目的】比较不同植被下红树林土壤细菌和古菌的多样性及群落结构,认识红树林土壤微生物资源多样性。【方法】直接提取红树林土壤总DNA,采用细菌通用引物27F/1492R和古菌通用引物Arch21F/Arch958R进行PCR扩增,构建细菌和古菌16S rRNA基因文库,对海南东寨港自然保护区秋茄林、无瓣海桑林和无红树林裸滩土壤的细菌和古菌多样性和群落结构进行分析和比较。【结果】3种土壤样品的细菌类群包括变形细菌门(Proteobacteria)等16个类群,其中变形细菌门(Proteobacteria)与绿屈挠菌门(Chloroflexi)是优势类群;古菌包括6个嗜泉古菌界(Crenarchaeota)类群和7个广域古菌界(Euryarchaeota)类群,分别以Marine Benthic Group C、Marine Benthic Group D为优势类群。多样性指数(H’)和物种丰富度指数(Schao1)表明,本地种秋茄林下土壤细菌和古菌的多样性指数最高,外来种无瓣海桑显著低于秋茄林,甚至明显低于相邻无红树林裸滩沉积物;不同植被下土壤细菌和古菌群落结构存在显著差异,秋茄林土壤微生物群落结构和无红树林裸滩沉积物更相似。【结论】红树林土壤微生物类群丰富,不同植被下土壤细菌和古菌多样性和群落结构存在显著差异。     

Archaeal abundance across a pH gradient in an arable soil and its relationship to bacterial and fungal growth rates

Soil pH is one of the most influential factors for the composition of bacterial and fungal communities, but the influence of soil pH on the distribution and composition of soil archaeal communities has yet to be systematically addressed. The primary aim of this study was to determine how total archaeal abundance (quantitative PCR [qPCR]-based estimates of 16S rRNA gene copy numbers) is related to soil pH across a pH gradient (pH 4.0 to 8.3). Secondarily, we wanted to assess how archaeal abundance related to bacterial and fungal growth rates across the same pH gradient. We identified two distinct and opposite effects of pH on the archaeal abundance. In the lowest pH range (pH 4.0 to 4.7), the abundance of archaea did not seem to correspond to pH. Above this pH range, there was a sharp, almost 4-fold decrease in archaeal abundance, reaching a minimum at pH 5.1 to 5.2. The low abundance of archaeal 16S rRNA gene copy numbers at this pH range then sharply increased almost 150-fold with pH, resulting in an increase in the ratio between archaeal and bacterial copy numbers from a minimum of 0.002 to more than 0.07 at pH 8. The nonuniform archaeal response to pH could reflect variation in the archaeal community composition along the gradient, with some archaea adapted to acidic conditions and others to neutral to slightly alkaline conditions. This suggestion is reinforced by observations of contrasting outcomes of the (competitive) interactions between archaea, bacteria, and fungi toward the lower and higher ends of the examined pH gradient.     

Stratified Communities of Active Archaea in Shallow Sediments of the Pearl River Estuary, Southern China

Marine subsurface sediments represent a novel archaeal biosphere with unknown physiology. To get to know the composition and ecological roles of the archaeal communities within the sediments of the Pearl River Estuary, Southern China, the diversity and vertical distribution of active archaea in a sediment core were characterized by 16S rRNA phylogenetic analysis of clone libraries derived from RNA. In this study, the archaeal diversity above, within, and beneath the sulfate-methane transition zone (SMTZ) in the Pearl River Estuary sediment core was described. The majority of the clones obtained from the metabolically active fraction of the archaeal community were most closely related to miscellaneous crenarchaeotal group and terrestrial miscellaneous euryarchaeotal group. Notably, although the Pearl River Estuary sediment belong to high methane and high organic carbon environment, sequences affiliated with methanotrophic and methanogenic archaea were detected as minor group in 16S rRNA clone libraries. No obvious evidence suggested that these unknown archaeal phylotypes related directly to anaerobic oxidation of methane in SMTZ. This is the first phylogenetic analysis of the metabolically active fraction of the archaeal community in the coastal sediment environments.     

Recovery of novel bacterial diversity from a forested wetland impacted by reject coal

Sulphide mineral mining together with improperly contained sulphur-rich coal represents a significant environmental problem caused by leaching of toxic material. The Savannah River Site's D-area harbours a 22-year-old exposed reject coal pile (RCP) from which acidic, metal rich, saline runoff has impacted an adjacent forested wetland. In order to assess the bacterial community composition of this region, composite sediment samples were collected at three points along a contamination gradient (high, middle and no contamination) and processed for generation of bacterial and archaeal 16S rDNA clone libraries. Little sequence overlap occurred between the contaminated (RCP samples) and unimpacted sites, indicating that the majority of 16S rDNAs retrieved from the former represent organisms selected by the acidic runoff. Archaeal diversity within the RCP samples consisted mainly of sequences related to the genus Thermoplasma and to sequences of a novel type. Bacterial RCP libraries contained 16S rRNA genes related to isolates (Acidiphilium sp., Acidobacterium capsulatum, Ferromicrobium acidophilium and Leptospirillum ferrooxidans) and environmental clones previously retrieved from acidic habitats, including ones phylogenetically associated with organisms capable of sulphur and iron metabolism. These libraries also exhibited particularly novel 16S rDNA types not retrieved from other acid mine drainage habitats, indicating that significant diversity remains to be detected in acid mine drainage-type systems.     

Patterns of fungal diversity and composition along a salinity gradient

Estuarine salinity gradients are known to influence plant, bacterial and archaeal community structure. We sequenced 18S rRNA genes to investigate patterns in sediment fungal diversity (richness and evenness of taxa) and composition (taxonomic and phylogenetic) along an estuarine salinity gradient. We sampled three marshes—a salt, brackish and freshwater marsh—in Rhode Island. To compare the relative effect of the salinity gradient with that of plants, we sampled fungi in plots with Spartina patens and in plots from which plants were removed 2 years prior to sampling. The fungal sediment community was unique compared with previously sampled fungal communities; we detected more Ascomycota (78%), fewer Basidiomycota (6%) and more fungi from basal lineages (16%) (Chytridiomycota, Glomeromycota and four additional groups) than typically found in soil. Across marshes, fungal composition changed substantially, whereas fungal diversity differed only at the finest level of genetic resolution, and was highest in the intermediate, brackish marsh. In contrast, the presence of plants had a highly significant effect on fungal diversity at all levels of genetic resolution, but less of an effect on fungal composition. These results suggest that salinity (or other covarying parameters) selects for a distinctive fungal composition, and plants provide additional niches upon which taxa within these communities can specialize and coexist. Given the number of sequences from basal fungal lineages, the study also suggests that further sampling of estuarine sediments may help in understanding early fungal evolution.     

Salinity Constraints on Subsurface Archaeal Diversity and Methanogenesis in Sedimentary Rock Rich in Organic Matter

The diversity of microorganisms active within sedimentary rocks provides important controls on the geochemistry of many subsurface environments. In particular, biodegradation of organic matter in sedimentary rocks contributes to the biogeochemical cycling of carbon and other elements and strongly impacts the recovery and quality of fossil fuel resources. In this study, archaeal diversity was investigated along a salinity gradient spanning 8 to 3,490 mM Cl⁻ in a subsurface shale rich in CH₄ derived from biodegradation of sedimentary hydrocarbons. Shale pore waters collected from wells in the main CH₄-producing zone lacked electron acceptors such as O₂, NO₃⁻, Fe³⁺, or SO₄²⁻. Acetate was detected only in high-salinity waters, suggesting that acetoclastic methanogenesis is inhibited at Cl⁻ concentrations above ~1,000 mM. Most-probable-number series revealed differences in methanogen substrate utilization (acetate, trimethylamine, or H₂/CO₂) associated with chlorinity. The greatest methane production in enrichment cultures was observed for incubations with salinity at or close to the native pore water salinity of the inoculum. Restriction fragment length polymorphism analyses of archaeal 16S rRNA genes from seven wells indicated that there were links between archaeal communities and pore water salinity. Archaeal clone libraries constructed from sequences from 16S rRNA genes isolated from two wells revealed phylotypes similar to a halophilic methylotrophic Methanohalophilus species and a hydrogenotrophic Methanoplanus species at high salinity and a single phylotype closely related to Methanocorpusculum bavaricum at low salinity. These results show that several distinct communities of methanogens persist in this subsurface, CH₄-producing environment and that each community is adapted to particular conditions of salinity and preferential substrate use and each community induces distinct geochemical signatures in shale formation waters.     

浑善达克沙地夏冬季浅色型生物土壤结皮中古菌的系统发育多样性

【目的】生物土壤结皮(Biological soil crusts,BSCs)对于遏制土壤荒漠化、恢复荒漠地区生态环境起着重要作用。BSCs形成和发展的关键角色是微生物。但关于BSCs中微生物组成的认识还不够全面和系统,特别是对其中的古菌鲜有研究报道。【方法】通过构建和分析古菌16S rRNA基因克隆文库,揭示浑善达克沙地BSCs中古菌多样性和系统发育类型组成,并比较它们夏季和冬季的变化。【结果】BSCs样品颜色为褐色,厚度较薄,所含氮和磷营养养分不高;8月份和11月份的BSCs古菌16S rRNA基因文库覆盖度均达95%以上,代表性强;两个文库共得到可用的142条古菌16S rRNA基因序列,以0.03为Cutoff值、这些序列分入10个OTUs中,两个季节的最优势种群相同;8月份和11月份的古菌均属于奇古菌门,但群落结构存在很大的不同,即各自所独有的种群分别有1个和4个;BSCs中古菌多样性均不高,但11月份的明显高于8月份的。【结论】温带沙地浅色型BSCs中古菌的主要为奇古菌、多样性低,其群落结构随季节变换而有较大变化。本研究为系统认识BSCs古菌的多样性及其生态作用提供了基础。     

Isolation of haloarchaea that grow at low salinities

Summary Archaea, the third domain of life, were long thought to be limited to environmental extremes. However, the discovery of archaeal 16S rRNA gene sequences in water, sediment and soil samples has called into question the notion of Archaea as obligate extremophiles. Until now, none of these novel Archaea has been brought into culture, a critical step for discovering their ecological roles. We have cultivated three novel halophilic Archaea (haloarchaea) genotypes from sediments in which the pore-water salinity was close to that of sea water. All previously reported haloarchaeal isolates are obligate extreme halophiles requiring at least 9% (w/v) NaCl for growth and are typically the dominant heterotrophic organisms in salt and soda lakes, salt deposits and salterns. Two of these three newly isolated genotypes have lower requirements for salt than previously cultured haloarchaea and are capable of slow growth at sea-water salinity (2.5% w/v NaCl). Our data reveal the existence of Archaea that can grow in non-extreme conditions and of a diverse community of haloarchaea existing in coastal salt marsh sediments. Our findings suggest that the ecological range of these physiologically versatile prokaryotes is much wider than previously supposed.     

Bacterial diversity,community structure and potential growth rates along an estuarine salinity gradient

Very little is known about growth rates of individual bacterial taxa and how they respond to environmental flux. Here, we characterized bacterial community diversity, structure and the relative abundance of 16S rRNA and 16S rRNA genes (rDNA) using pyrosequencing along the salinity gradient in the Delaware Bay. Indices of diversity, evenness, structure and growth rates of the surface bacterial community significantly varied along the transect, reflecting active mixing between the freshwater and marine ends of the estuary. There was no positive correlation between relative abundances of 16S rRNA and rDNA for the entire bacterial community, suggesting that abundance of bacteria does not necessarily reflect potential growth rate or activity. However, for almost half of the individual taxa, 16S rRNA positively correlated with rDNA, suggesting that activity did follow abundance in these cases. The positive relationship between 16S rRNA and rDNA was less in the whole water community than for free-living taxa, indicating that the two communities differed in activity. The 16S rRNA:rDNA ratios of some typically marine taxa reflected differences in light, nutrient concentrations and other environmental factors along the estuarine gradient. The ratios of individual freshwater taxa declined as salinity increased, whereas the 16S rRNA:rDNA ratios of only some typical marine bacteria increased as salinity increased. These data suggest that physical and other bottom-up factors differentially affect growth rates, but not necessarily abundance of individual taxa in this highly variable environment.     

Archaeal Microbial Diversity of Hypersaline Lake Acıgöl,Denizli, Turkey

Archaeal diversity in Lake Ac?göl, a closed-basin, alkaline, hypersaline lake located at the northern edge of western Tourides in southwest Anatolia, was investigated using culture-independent methods. Microbial mat samples were collected from six different points. Archaeal 16S rRNA gene libraries were generated using domain specific oligonucleotide primers, and 16S rRNA gene sequences of clone libraries were analyzed phylogenetically. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis of 16S rRNA genes showed a variance in diversity with spatial differences. Archaeal diversity of Ac?göl is dominated by the members of family Halobacteriaceae which requires both high salt concentration and high pH for growth. Sequence analysis of archaeal 16s rRNA genes indicates the presence of the phylotypes affiliated with the genera Halorubrum, Halosimplex, Halorhabdus, Haloterrigena and Natronococcus in the analyzed samples.     

Do Patterns of Bacterial Diversity along Salinity Gradients Differ from Those Observed for Macroorganisms?

It is widely accepted that biodiversity is lower in more extreme environments. In this study, we sought to determine whether this trend, well documented for macroorganisms, also holds at the microbial level for bacteria. We used denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) with phylum-specific primers to quantify the taxon richness (i.e., the DGGE band numbers) of the bacterioplankton communities of 32 pristine Tibetan lakes that represent a broad salinity range (freshwater to hypersaline). For the lakes investigated, salinity was found to be the environmental variable with the strongest influence on the bacterial community composition. We found that the bacterial taxon richness in freshwater habitats increased with increasing salinity up to a value of 1‰. In saline systems (systems with >1‰ salinity), the expected decrease of taxon richness along a gradient of further increasing salinity was not observed. These patterns were consistently observed for two sets of samples taken in two different years. A comparison of 16S rRNA gene clone libraries revealed that the bacterial community of the lake with the highest salinity was characterized by a higher recent accelerated diversification than the community of a freshwater lake, whereas the phylogenetic diversity in the hypersaline lake was lower than that in the freshwater lake. These results suggest that different evolutionary forces may act on bacterial populations in freshwater and hypersaline lakes on the Tibetan Plateau, potentially resulting in different community structures and diversity patterns.     

Distribution of Cren- and Euryarchaeota in Scots Pine Mycorrhizospheres and Boreal Forest Humus

Archaeal 16S rRNA gene sequences have been found in a variety of moderate-temperature habitats including soil and rhizospheres. In this study, the differences of archaeal communities associated with Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) short roots, different types of mycorrhizospheric compartments, and uncolonized boreal forest humus were tested by direct DNA extraction, polymerase chain reaction–denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR–DGGE), and sequencing. The results indicated that mycorrhizal colonization of Scots pine roots substantially influence the archaeal community of pine rhizospheres. Colonization of short roots by most mycorrhizal fungi tested increased both archaeal frequency and diversity. Most of the archaeal sequences encountered in mycorrhizas belonged to the phylum Euryarchaeota, order of Halobacteriales. The difference in archaeal diversity between the mycorrhizospheric compartments and humus was profound. Most compartments with fungal components contained euryarchaeotal 16S rRNA gene sequences, whereas a high diversity of crenarchaeotal sequences and no euryarchaeotal sequences were found in forest humus outside mycorrhizospheres.     

Analysis of bacterial and archaeal diversity in coastal microbial mats using massive parallel 16S rRNA gene tag sequencing

Coastal microbial mats are small-scale and largely closed ecosystems in which a plethora of different functional groups of microorganisms are responsible for the biogeochemical cycling of the elements. Coastal microbial mats play an important role in coastal protection and morphodynamics through stabilization of the sediments and by initiating the development of salt-marshes. Little is known about the bacterial and especially archaeal diversity and how it contributes to the ecological functioning of coastal microbial mats. Here, we analyzed three different types of coastal microbial mats that are located along a tidal gradient and can be characterized as marine (ST2), brackish (ST3) and freshwater (ST3) systems. The mats were sampled during three different seasons and subjected to massive parallel tag sequencing of the V6 region of the 16S rRNA genes of Bacteria and Archaea. Sequence analysis revealed that the mats are among the most diverse marine ecosystems studied so far and consist of several novel taxonomic levels ranging from classes to species. The diversity between the different mat types was far more pronounced than the changes between the different seasons at one location. The archaeal community for these mats have not been studied before and revealed a strong reaction on a short period of draught during summer resulting in a massive increase in halobacterial sequences, whereas the bacterial community was barely affected. We concluded that the community composition and the microbial diversity were intrinsic of the mat type and depend on the location along the tidal gradient indicating a relation with salinity.     

Prokaryotic diversity of a Tunisian multipond solar saltern

16S rRNA gene clone libraries were separately constructed from three ponds with different salt concentrations, M2 (15%), TS38 (25%) and S5 (32%), located within a multipond solar saltern of Sfax. The 16S rRNA genes from 216 bacterial clones and 156 archaeal clones were sequenced and phylogenetically analyzed. 44 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were generated for Bacteria and 67 for Archaea. Phylogenetic groups within the bacterial domain were restricted to Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria, with the exception that one cyanobacterial OTU was found in the TS38 pond. 85.7, 26.6 and 25.0% of the bacterial OTUs from M2, TS38 and S5 ponds, respectively, are novel. All archaeal 16S rRNA gene sequences were exclusively affiliated with Euryarchaeota. 75.0, 60.0 and 66.7% of the OTUs from, respectively, M2, TS38 and S5 ponds are novel. The result showed that the Tunisian multipond solar saltern harbored novel prokaryotic diversity that has never been reported before for solar salterns. In addition, diversity measurement indicated a decrease of bacterial diversity and an increase of archaeal diversity with rising salinity gradient, which was in agreement with the previous observation for thalassohaline systems. Comparative analysis showed that prokaryotic diversity of Tunisian saltern was higher than that of other salterns previously studied. A. Sghir and E. Ammar have equally contributed to this work.     

Phylogenetic Characterization of Archaea in Saltpan Sediments

A study was undertaken to investigate the presence of archaeal diversity in saltpan sediments of Goa, India by 16S rDNA-dependent molecular phylogeny. Small subunit rRNA (16S rDNA) from saltpan sediment metagenome were amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using primers specific to the domain archaea. 10 unique phylotypes were obtained by PCR based RFLP of 16S rRNA genes using endonuclease Msp 1, which was most suitable to score the genetic diversity. These phylotypes spanned a wide range within the domain archaea including both crenarchaeota and euryarcheaota. None of the retrieved crenarchaeota sequences could be grouped with previously cultured crenarchaeota however; two sequences were related with haloarchaea. Most of the sequences determined were closely related to the sequences that had been previously obtained from metagenome of a variety of marine environments. The phylogenetic study of a site investigated for the first time revealed the presence of low archaeal population but showed yet unclassified species, may specially adapted to the salt pan sediment of Goa.