Spatial Metagenomic Analysis in Understanding the Microbial Diversity of Thar Desert

The arid and semi-arid regions of Rajasthan are one of the most extreme biomes of India, possessing diverse microbial communities that exhibit immense biotechnological potential for industries. Herein, we sampled study sites from arid and semi-arid regions of Thar Desert, Rajasthan, India and subjected them to chemical, physical and metagenomics analysis. The microbial diversity was studied using V3-V4 amplicon sequencing of 16S rRNA gene by Illumina MiSeq. Our metagenomic analyses revealed that the sampled sites consist mainly of Proteobacteria (19-31%) followed by unclassified bacteria (5-21%), Actinobacteria (3-25%), Planctomycetes (5-13%), Chloroflexi (2-14%), Bacteroidetes (3-12%), Firmicutes (3-7%), Acidobacteria (1-4%) and Patescibacteria (1-4%). We have found Proteobacteria in abundance which is associated with a range of activities involved in biogeochemical cycles such as carbon, nitrogen, and sulphur. Our study is perhaps the first of its kind to explore soil bacteria from arid and semi-arid regions of Rajasthan, India. We believe that the new microbial candidates found can be further explored for various industrial and biotechnological applications.