Comparative analyses of microorganisms from different high-temperature volcanic environments

Microorganisms thriving in volcanic environments have been scarcely studied. This work presents an analysis of the microorganisms encountered in high temperature environments from two geographically distant volcanic environments, Canary Islands (Spain) and Kamchatka Peninsula (Russian Federation), with temperatures between 70 and 95 degrees C were sampled. Microorganisms were detected through 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Analysis based on both DNA and RNA. Interestingly, neither DNA nor RNA analysis lead to the detection of typical hyperthemophilic microorganisms. Bacterial RNA stability at high temperatures was determined and lasted just a few minutes. The presence of mesophiles in high temperature environments might be a result of a high dispersion rate. This study has serious implications on current estimates of bacterial diversity, the distribution and dispersal of microorganisms, and a high potential of microbes for colonizing novel environments.