AUTHOR=Molina-Menor Esther , Gimeno-Valero Helena , Pascual Javier , Peretó Juli , Porcar Manuel TITLE=High Culturable Bacterial Diversity From a European Desert: The Tabernas Desert JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology VOLUME=11 YEAR=2021 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2020.583120 DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2020.583120 ISSN=1664-302X ABSTRACT=
One of the most diverse ecological niches for microbial bioprospecting is soil, including that of drylands. Drylands are one of the most abundant biomes on Earth, but extreme cases, such as deserts, are considered very rare in Europe. The so-called Tabernas Desert is one of the few examples of a desert area in continental Europe, and although some microbial studies have been performed on this region, a comprehensive strategy to maximize the isolation of environmental bacteria has not been conducted to date. We report here a culturomics approach to study the bacterial diversity of this dryland by using a simple strategy consisting of combining different media, using serial dilutions of the nutrients, and using extended incubation times. With this strategy, we were able to set a large (254 strains) collection of bacteria, the majority of which (93%) were identified through 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene amplification and sequencing. A significant fraction of the collection consisted of Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria, as well as Firmicutes strains. Among the 254 isolates, 37 different genera were represented, and a high number of possible new taxa were identified (31%), of which, three new