Taxonomic and Functional Comparative Metagenomics of Peruvian Salterns: Insights into Microbial Communities and Aminotransferase Potential

Carol N. Flores-Fernández; Thomas K. Hiron; Dragana Dobrijevic; Amparo I. Zavaleta; Jack W. E. Jeffries; Chris A. O’Callaghan; Gary J. Lye; John M. Ward; Max Cárdenas-Fernández

doi:10.3390/microorganisms14071595

Taxonomic and Functional Comparative Metagenomics of Peruvian Salterns: Insights into Microbial Communities and Aminotransferase Potential

Carol N. Flores-Fernández
, Thomas K. Hiron
, Dragana Dobrijevic
, Amparo I. Zavaleta
, Jack W. E. Jeffries
, Chris A. O’Callaghan
, Gary J. Lye
, John M. Ward
, Max Cárdenas-Fernández

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

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Abstract

Metagenomic analysis of extreme environments is essential in biotechnological research. This work aimed to determine and compare the microbial diversity of two Peruvian saline environments and characterise their functional profiles. Soil metagenomic DNA (mDNA) was analysed from Maras and Pilluana salterns, both with a thalassohaline origin but with different geographical and environmental conditions. Maras samples exhibited more diversity and a remarkably higher abundance of archaea (phylum Euryarchaeota). The most dominant bacterial phyla across all the samples were Pseudomonadota and Actinomycetota. Multiple pathways specific to archaea were more abundant in Maras, as were pathway-related synthesis and degradation of compatible osmolytes such as glycine betaine and ectoine. The most abundant pathways in Pilluana were associated with fatty acid biosynthesis and oxidation. A total of 49 and 47 metagenomic-assembled genomes (MAGs) were retrieved from Maras and Pilluana samples, respectively. Bacterial MAGs were mainly classified within the phyla Psudomonadota, Actinomycetota, Planctomycetota, and Gemmatimonadota. Additionally, a total of 20 putative aminotransferases class III (ATs, PF00202) from Maras3 were cloned and expressed in E. coli Rosetta, and their substrate scoping was assayed against several aldehyde and ketone substrates; AT pQR3082 and pQR3090 showed unique broad substrate acceptance for aromatic and aliphatic substrates. Our study provides new insights into the microorganisms and metabolic pathways of these unique extreme environments, highlighting the promising biotechnological potential of metagenomic ATs.

Original language	English
Article number	1595
Number of pages	20
Journal	Microorganisms
Volume	14
Issue number	7
Early online date	22 Jul 2026
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms14071595
Publication status	Published - 22 Jul 2026

Bibliographical note

Copyright © 2026 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license.

Data Access Statement

MAG assemblies were deposited in NCBI under the BioProject ID PRJNA1184742.

Funding

This work was supported by the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) with the grants BBSRC Other Countries Partnering Award [grant number BB/M027864/1] and BBSRC ERA CoBioTech Grant [grant number BB/R021627/1]; and Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) [grant number EP/S024883/1]. Further funding was received from the “Consejo Nacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación Tecnológica” (CONCYTEC), Peru [grant number 007-2014-FONDECYT]; The Queen’s College, Oxford, UK., and the Future Biomanufacturing Research Hub [grant number EP/S01778X/1].

Funders	Funder number
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council	EP/S024883/1
EP/S01778X/1
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council	BB/R021627/1, BB/M027864/1
007-2014-FONDECYT

Keywords

aminotransferases class III
extreme environments
extremophiles
halophiles
metabolic pathways
metagenome-assembled genomes
microbial diversity

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10.3390/microorganisms14071595Licence: CC BY 4.0

Taxonomic and Functional Comparative Metagenomics of Peruvian Salterns
Copyright © 2026 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license.
Final published version, 21.2 MBLicence: CC BY 4.0

Cite this

Flores-Fernández, C. N., Hiron, T. K., Dobrijevic, D., Zavaleta, A. I., Jeffries, J. W. E., O’Callaghan, C. A., Lye, G. J., Ward, J. M., & Cárdenas-Fernández, M. (2026). Taxonomic and Functional Comparative Metagenomics of Peruvian Salterns: Insights into Microbial Communities and Aminotransferase Potential. Microorganisms, 14(7), Article 1595. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms14071595

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abstract = "Metagenomic analysis of extreme environments is essential in biotechnological research. This work aimed to determine and compare the microbial diversity of two Peruvian saline environments and characterise their functional profiles. Soil metagenomic DNA (mDNA) was analysed from Maras and Pilluana salterns, both with a thalassohaline origin but with different geographical and environmental conditions. Maras samples exhibited more diversity and a remarkably higher abundance of archaea (phylum Euryarchaeota). The most dominant bacterial phyla across all the samples were Pseudomonadota and Actinomycetota. Multiple pathways specific to archaea were more abundant in Maras, as were pathway-related synthesis and degradation of compatible osmolytes such as glycine betaine and ectoine. The most abundant pathways in Pilluana were associated with fatty acid biosynthesis and oxidation. A total of 49 and 47 metagenomic-assembled genomes (MAGs) were retrieved from Maras and Pilluana samples, respectively. Bacterial MAGs were mainly classified within the phyla Psudomonadota, Actinomycetota, Planctomycetota, and Gemmatimonadota. Additionally, a total of 20 putative aminotransferases class III (ATs, PF00202) from Maras3 were cloned and expressed in E. coli Rosetta, and their substrate scoping was assayed against several aldehyde and ketone substrates; AT pQR3082 and pQR3090 showed unique broad substrate acceptance for aromatic and aliphatic substrates. Our study provides new insights into the microorganisms and metabolic pathways of these unique extreme environments, highlighting the promising biotechnological potential of metagenomic ATs.",

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Flores-Fernández, CN, Hiron, TK, Dobrijevic, D, Zavaleta, AI, Jeffries, JWE, O’Callaghan, CA, Lye, GJ, Ward, JM & Cárdenas-Fernández, M 2026, 'Taxonomic and Functional Comparative Metagenomics of Peruvian Salterns: Insights into Microbial Communities and Aminotransferase Potential', Microorganisms, vol. 14, no. 7, 1595. https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms14071595

TY - JOUR

T1 - Taxonomic and Functional Comparative Metagenomics of Peruvian Salterns: Insights into Microbial Communities and Aminotransferase Potential

AU - Flores-Fernández, Carol N.

AU - Hiron, Thomas K.

AU - Dobrijevic, Dragana

AU - Zavaleta, Amparo I.

AU - Jeffries, Jack W. E.

AU - O’Callaghan, Chris A.

AU - Lye, Gary J.

AU - Ward, John M.

AU - Cárdenas-Fernández, Max

N1 - Copyright © 2026 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license.

PY - 2026/7/22

Y1 - 2026/7/22

N2 - Metagenomic analysis of extreme environments is essential in biotechnological research. This work aimed to determine and compare the microbial diversity of two Peruvian saline environments and characterise their functional profiles. Soil metagenomic DNA (mDNA) was analysed from Maras and Pilluana salterns, both with a thalassohaline origin but with different geographical and environmental conditions. Maras samples exhibited more diversity and a remarkably higher abundance of archaea (phylum Euryarchaeota). The most dominant bacterial phyla across all the samples were Pseudomonadota and Actinomycetota. Multiple pathways specific to archaea were more abundant in Maras, as were pathway-related synthesis and degradation of compatible osmolytes such as glycine betaine and ectoine. The most abundant pathways in Pilluana were associated with fatty acid biosynthesis and oxidation. A total of 49 and 47 metagenomic-assembled genomes (MAGs) were retrieved from Maras and Pilluana samples, respectively. Bacterial MAGs were mainly classified within the phyla Psudomonadota, Actinomycetota, Planctomycetota, and Gemmatimonadota. Additionally, a total of 20 putative aminotransferases class III (ATs, PF00202) from Maras3 were cloned and expressed in E. coli Rosetta, and their substrate scoping was assayed against several aldehyde and ketone substrates; AT pQR3082 and pQR3090 showed unique broad substrate acceptance for aromatic and aliphatic substrates. Our study provides new insights into the microorganisms and metabolic pathways of these unique extreme environments, highlighting the promising biotechnological potential of metagenomic ATs.

AB - Metagenomic analysis of extreme environments is essential in biotechnological research. This work aimed to determine and compare the microbial diversity of two Peruvian saline environments and characterise their functional profiles. Soil metagenomic DNA (mDNA) was analysed from Maras and Pilluana salterns, both with a thalassohaline origin but with different geographical and environmental conditions. Maras samples exhibited more diversity and a remarkably higher abundance of archaea (phylum Euryarchaeota). The most dominant bacterial phyla across all the samples were Pseudomonadota and Actinomycetota. Multiple pathways specific to archaea were more abundant in Maras, as were pathway-related synthesis and degradation of compatible osmolytes such as glycine betaine and ectoine. The most abundant pathways in Pilluana were associated with fatty acid biosynthesis and oxidation. A total of 49 and 47 metagenomic-assembled genomes (MAGs) were retrieved from Maras and Pilluana samples, respectively. Bacterial MAGs were mainly classified within the phyla Psudomonadota, Actinomycetota, Planctomycetota, and Gemmatimonadota. Additionally, a total of 20 putative aminotransferases class III (ATs, PF00202) from Maras3 were cloned and expressed in E. coli Rosetta, and their substrate scoping was assayed against several aldehyde and ketone substrates; AT pQR3082 and pQR3090 showed unique broad substrate acceptance for aromatic and aliphatic substrates. Our study provides new insights into the microorganisms and metabolic pathways of these unique extreme environments, highlighting the promising biotechnological potential of metagenomic ATs.

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Taxonomic and Functional Comparative Metagenomics of Peruvian Salterns: Insights into Microbial Communities and Aminotransferase Potential

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Data Access Statement

Funding

Keywords

Access to Document

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