Metagenomic characterization of biodiversity in the extremely arid desert soils of Kazakhstan

For the first time, the composition of microbiomes in the biological crust (AKL) horizons of extremely arid desert soils (Aridic Calcisols) developed from saline and nonsaline alluvial deposits in the Ili Depression (eastern Kazakhstan) was analyzed. To describe the diversity of microorganisms in the soil samples, a novel method of pyrosequencing (Roche/454 Life Sciences) was applied. It was shown that bacteria from the Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, Verrucomicrobia, Acidobacteria, and Bacteroidetes phyla predominate in all the samples; these are typical representatives of the microbiome of soil crusts. A distinctive feature of the extremely arid soils is the high contribution of cyanobacteria (25–30%) to the total DNA. In the soils developed from saline sediments, representatives from the Rubrobacteraceae, Streptococcaceae, and Caulobacteraceae families and from the Firmicutes phylum predominated. In the soils developed from nonsaline gypsiferous deposits, bacteria from the class of Acidobacteria, subgroup Gp3, of the Methylobacteriaceae family and the class of Subdivision 3 from the Verrucomicrobia phylum predominated.