Diversity of Bacteria and the Characteristics of Actinobacteria Community Structure in Badain Jaran Desert and Tengger Desert of China

Actinobacteria, particularly the Geodermatophilaceae family, emerge as dominant and ubiquitous components of desert microbial communities in China's Badain Jaran and Tengger Deserts. This study reveals that Geodermatophilaceae constitute a significant proportion (35% in Badain Jaran Desert, 29.4% in Tengger Desert) of the bacterial diversity, suggesting their critical ecological role in these extreme environments. High-throughput sequencing identified 3,365 and 1,250 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) in the two deserts, respectively, with Arthrobacter and Kocuria genera prevailing among actinobacterial communities. Cultivation techniques isolated 786 strains from Badain Jaran Desert and 376 from Tengger Desert, including novel taxa with potential for producing secondary metabolites. Notably, 10.36% of isolates exhibited antimicrobial activity, highlighting their biotechnological significance. The findings underscore the ecological importance of Geodermatophilaceae in desert sands and point to unexplored microbial diversity with potential applications.

Sun, Y., Shi, Y.-L., Wang, H., Zhang, T., Yu, L.-Y., Sun, H., & Zhang, Y.-Q. (2018). Diversity of Bacteria and the Characteristics of Actinobacteria Community Structure in Badain Jaran Desert and Tengger Desert of China. Frontiers in Microbiology, 9. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2018.01068