Indigenous metal-tolerant mine water bacterial populations under varying metal stresses.

The present study investigated the indigenous metal-tolerant bacterial populations in the mine-water microbiome. Our intention was to assess the effects of the metal concentrations in mine water on the bacterial community of mine waters. The bacterial communities in Vanadium and Gold mine-water samples were exposed to different heavy-metal Arsenic, Cadmium, Chromium, Nickel, Mercury and Vanadium at two different concentrations (5 and 25 mM).

Profile of bacterial communities in South African mine-water samples using Illumina next-generation sequencing platform.

Mine water is an example of an extreme environment that contains a large number of diverse and specific bacteria. It is imperative to gain an understanding of these bacterial communities in order to develop effective strategies for the bioremediation of polluted aquatic systems. In this study, the high-throughput sequencing approach was used to characterize the bacterial communities in two different mine waters of South Africa: vanadium and gold mine water.