Abstract Hot springs are natural environments where hot groundwater comes out from the earth. Exploring the microbial diversity present in hot springs is important first to determine the microorganisms able to proliferate there and to understand their role in biogeochemical cycles. In Algeria, research concerning microbial populations in those ecosystems is limited. This study describes bacterial and archaeal diversity of the ‘Hammam Essalihine’ hot spring in Khenchela province in north-east Algeria using a culture-independent approach. This is the first microbial diversity investigation in the ‘Hammam Essalihine’ hot spring using next-generation sequencing techniques to assess the species classification of thermophilic microorganisms. Genomic DNA was extracted from water samples and the V4–V5 region of 16S rRNA gene were amplified, sequenced, and analyzed. The average temperature of water varies from 68 to 70 °C. High-throughput sequencing analysis revealed the presence of 21 bacterial phyla, including an unknown phylum and distributed across 42 families and 39 genera. The majority of the sequences were observed to belong to the kingdom Bacteria. The bacterial community from this hot spring is dominated by Proteobacteria (41.52%), Chloroflexi (7.62%), and Bacteroidetes (7.62%), whereas the community of Archaea is scarcely present in the study site and the two identified operational taxonomic units (OTUs) are far from what is known in the GenBank database. The study shows several uncharacterized sequences, indicating that the water of ‘Hammam Essalihine’ hot spring contains undescribed microorganisms. This study is thought to add to the understanding of thermophile diversity and ecology of ‘Hammam Essalihine’ hot spring.

中文翻译：

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阿尔及利亚Khenchela Essalihine 温泉细菌和古菌多样性的宏基因组研究

摘要 温泉是从地球流出的热地下水的自然环境。探索温泉中存在的微生物多样性对于确定能够在那里繁殖的微生物并了解它们在生物地球化学循环中的作用很重要。在阿尔及利亚，关于这些生态系统中微生物种群的研究是有限的。本研究使用独立于培养的方法描述了阿尔及利亚东北部 Khenchela 省“Hammam Essalihine”温泉的细菌和古菌多样性。这是使用下一代测序技术评估嗜热微生物物种分类的“Hammam Essalihine”温泉中的第一次微生物多样性调查。从水样中提取基因组DNA，对16S rRNA基因的V4-V5区进行扩增、测序，并进行了分析。水的平均温度在 68 至 70 °C 之间。高通量测序分析显示存在 21 个细菌门，包括一个未知门，分布在 42 个科和 39 个属中。观察到大多数序列属于细菌界。该温泉的细菌群落以变形杆菌 (41.52%)、绿屈菌 (7.62%) 和拟杆菌 (7.62%) 为主，而古细菌群落几乎不存在于研究地点和两个已确定的操作分类单元 (OTU) ) 与 GenBank 数据库中已知的相去甚远。该研究显示了几个未表征的序列，表明“Hammam Essalihine”温泉的水含有未描述的微生物。