Sunlight-exposed biofilm microbial communities are naturally resistant to chernobyl ionizing-radiation levels.

<h4>Background</h4>The Chernobyl accident represents a long-term experiment on the effects of exposure to ionizing radiation at the ecosystem level. Though studies of these effects on plants and animals are abundant, the study of how Chernobyl radiation levels affect prokaryotic and euka...

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Autores principales:	Marie Ragon, Gwendal Restoux, David Moreira, Anders Pape Møller, Purificación López-García
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2011
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/2d53bae317cb496c9b60893bbd223e72
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:2d53bae317cb496c9b60893bbd223e722021-11-18T06:50:22ZSunlight-exposed biofilm microbial communities are naturally resistant to chernobyl ionizing-radiation levels.1932-620310.1371/journal.pone.0021764https://doaj.org/article/2d53bae317cb496c9b60893bbd223e722011-01-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/21765911/pdf/?tool=EBIhttps://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203<h4>Background</h4>The Chernobyl accident represents a long-term experiment on the effects of exposure to ionizing radiation at the ecosystem level. Though studies of these effects on plants and animals are abundant, the study of how Chernobyl radiation levels affect prokaryotic and eukaryotic microbial communities is practically non-existent, except for a few reports on human pathogens or soil microorganisms. Environments enduring extreme desiccation and UV radiation, such as sunlight exposed biofilms could in principle select for organisms highly resistant to ionizing radiation as well.<h4>Methodology/principal findings</h4>To test this hypothesis, we explored the diversity of microorganisms belonging to the three domains of life by cultivation-independent approaches in biofilms developing on concrete walls or pillars in the Chernobyl area exposed to different levels of radiation, and we compared them with a similar biofilm from a non-irradiated site in Northern Ireland. Actinobacteria, Alphaproteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Acidobacteria and Deinococcales were the most consistently detected bacterial groups, whereas green algae (Chlorophyta) and ascomycete fungi (Ascomycota) dominated within the eukaryotes. Close relatives to the most radio-resistant organisms known, including Rubrobacter species, Deinococcales and melanized ascomycete fungi were always detected. The diversity of bacteria and eukaryotes found in the most highly irradiated samples was comparable to that of less irradiated Chernobyl sites and Northern Ireland. However, the study of mutation frequencies in non-coding ITS regions versus SSU rRNA genes in members of a same actinobacterial operational taxonomic unit (OTU) present in Chernobyl samples and Northern Ireland showed a positive correlation between increased radiation and mutation rates.<h4>Conclusions/significance</h4>Our results show that biofilm microbial communities in the most irradiated samples are comparable to non-irradiated samples in terms of general diversity patterns, despite increased mutation levels at the single-OTU level. Therefore, biofilm communities growing in sunlight exposed substrates are capable of coping with increased mutation rates and appear pre-adapted to levels of ionizing radiation in Chernobyl due to their natural adaptation to periodical desiccation and ambient UV radiation.Marie RagonGwendal RestouxDavid MoreiraAnders Pape MøllerPurificación López-GarcíaPublic Library of Science (PLoS)articleMedicineRScienceQENPLoS ONE, Vol 6, Iss 7, p e21764 (2011)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Marie Ragon Gwendal Restoux David Moreira Anders Pape Møller Purificación López-García Sunlight-exposed biofilm microbial communities are naturally resistant to chernobyl ionizing-radiation levels.
description	<h4>Background</h4>The Chernobyl accident represents a long-term experiment on the effects of exposure to ionizing radiation at the ecosystem level. Though studies of these effects on plants and animals are abundant, the study of how Chernobyl radiation levels affect prokaryotic and eukaryotic microbial communities is practically non-existent, except for a few reports on human pathogens or soil microorganisms. Environments enduring extreme desiccation and UV radiation, such as sunlight exposed biofilms could in principle select for organisms highly resistant to ionizing radiation as well.<h4>Methodology/principal findings</h4>To test this hypothesis, we explored the diversity of microorganisms belonging to the three domains of life by cultivation-independent approaches in biofilms developing on concrete walls or pillars in the Chernobyl area exposed to different levels of radiation, and we compared them with a similar biofilm from a non-irradiated site in Northern Ireland. Actinobacteria, Alphaproteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Acidobacteria and Deinococcales were the most consistently detected bacterial groups, whereas green algae (Chlorophyta) and ascomycete fungi (Ascomycota) dominated within the eukaryotes. Close relatives to the most radio-resistant organisms known, including Rubrobacter species, Deinococcales and melanized ascomycete fungi were always detected. The diversity of bacteria and eukaryotes found in the most highly irradiated samples was comparable to that of less irradiated Chernobyl sites and Northern Ireland. However, the study of mutation frequencies in non-coding ITS regions versus SSU rRNA genes in members of a same actinobacterial operational taxonomic unit (OTU) present in Chernobyl samples and Northern Ireland showed a positive correlation between increased radiation and mutation rates.<h4>Conclusions/significance</h4>Our results show that biofilm microbial communities in the most irradiated samples are comparable to non-irradiated samples in terms of general diversity patterns, despite increased mutation levels at the single-OTU level. Therefore, biofilm communities growing in sunlight exposed substrates are capable of coping with increased mutation rates and appear pre-adapted to levels of ionizing radiation in Chernobyl due to their natural adaptation to periodical desiccation and ambient UV radiation.
format	article
author	Marie Ragon Gwendal Restoux David Moreira Anders Pape Møller Purificación López-García
author_facet	Marie Ragon Gwendal Restoux David Moreira Anders Pape Møller Purificación López-García
author_sort	Marie Ragon
title	Sunlight-exposed biofilm microbial communities are naturally resistant to chernobyl ionizing-radiation levels.
title_short	Sunlight-exposed biofilm microbial communities are naturally resistant to chernobyl ionizing-radiation levels.
title_full	Sunlight-exposed biofilm microbial communities are naturally resistant to chernobyl ionizing-radiation levels.
title_fullStr	Sunlight-exposed biofilm microbial communities are naturally resistant to chernobyl ionizing-radiation levels.
title_full_unstemmed	Sunlight-exposed biofilm microbial communities are naturally resistant to chernobyl ionizing-radiation levels.
title_sort	sunlight-exposed biofilm microbial communities are naturally resistant to chernobyl ionizing-radiation levels.
publisher	Public Library of Science (PLoS)
publishDate	2011
url	https://doaj.org/article/2d53bae317cb496c9b60893bbd223e72
work_keys_str_mv	AT marieragon sunlightexposedbiofilmmicrobialcommunitiesarenaturallyresistanttochernobylionizingradiationlevels AT gwendalrestoux sunlightexposedbiofilmmicrobialcommunitiesarenaturallyresistanttochernobylionizingradiationlevels AT davidmoreira sunlightexposedbiofilmmicrobialcommunitiesarenaturallyresistanttochernobylionizingradiationlevels AT anderspapemøller sunlightexposedbiofilmmicrobialcommunitiesarenaturallyresistanttochernobylionizingradiationlevels AT purificacionlopezgarcia sunlightexposedbiofilmmicrobialcommunitiesarenaturallyresistanttochernobylionizingradiationlevels
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Sunlight-exposed biofilm microbial communities are naturally resistant to chernobyl ionizing-radiation levels.

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