Mining Of Novel Secondary Metabolite Biosynthetic Gene Clusters From Acid Mine Drainage

Acid mine drainage(AMD)is a special environment,usually formed by the oxidation and decomposition of sulfur-containing waste ore exposed in the atmosphere,which is with strong acidity and high concentration of heavy metal ions and sulfate ions,and often considered as one of the most important representatives of extreme environments.Microorganisms have gradually been used in acid mine environment remediation,and it is reported that secondary metabolites synthesized by microorganisms in AMD can be used for new drug development.Therefore,mining of metagenomic assembly genomes(MAGs)and secondary metabolite biosynthetic gene clusters(smBGCs)from AMD has important theoretical significance and practical value.In this study,1,670 MAGs were obtained by the analysis of metagenomic datasets covering 186 samples of 17 projects from 14 mineral types of 8 countries,and it is found that the microbial diversity in polymetallic mines is relatively high.Microorganisms,such as Desulfobacula,Desulfotomaculum,Desulfosporosinus and Thermodesulfobium that have been used in environmental remediation were found in our study,and microorganisms such as Acidithiobacillus ferrivorans,Acidithiobacillus thiooxidan,and Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans that potentially participate in the environmental recovery process were also obtained in this study.In addition,92% of the MAGs belonging to microorganisms that might have not been isolated or cultured may also be potential resources related to environmental remediation.Overall,2,545 smBGCs in 7 categories were obtained from 1,670 MAGs.The smBGCs distributions in different AMD environments were different.For example,the Bacillus velezensis in the lead-zinc mine contains 9 types of 36 smBGCs,and the Nocardia sp3123685 in the polymetallic mine has 10 types of 48 smBGCs.In addition,87.4% of smBGCs belonging to newly discovered smBGCs were mainly distributed in polymetallic mines,copper mines,lead-zinc mines,and antimony mines.The newly discovered smBGCs in these mineral types may contain special natural products belonging to extreme environments,which can be used for further drug development.