Bacterial Diversity in High-Altitude Chandra Taal Lake: A Pilot Study

Chandrataal Lake is a high-altitude lake and a popular tourist destination in the Lahaul and Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh. The lake is least studied except its bathymetry and few physicochemical properties. The harsh environment and extreme UV radiation may harbour the unique microbial composition in the lake. In the following study, the water sample was collected in June 2022 to study culture independent bacterial composition and basic physicochemical properties. The microbial diversity was studied by targeting V3–V4 regions of 16S rRNA gene sequenced by using Illumina Miseq Platform. The results indicated that the lake is dominated by Proteobacteria (47–48%) followed by Bacteroides (19–20%). The dominant families/genus are Xanthomonadaceae, Chitinophagaceae, Chitinimonas taiwanensis, Exiguobacterium sp. , Sphingomonadaceae, Comamonadaceae, Cytophagaceae, Acidimicrobiales, Luteolibacter sp. , Aeromonadaceae, Flavobacterium sp., Rhodobacter sp. Other dominating members are Acidobacteria, Nitrospirea, Firmicutes etc. Some basic physicochemical properties like dissolved oxygen, pH, ammonia, temperature, conductivity (EC), and total dissolved solids (TDS) were recorded. The dissolved oxygen was 4–5 mg/L, likely contributed by photosynthetic activity as the water samples were collected at around 11.00 am with bright sunlight. The average temperature was 15–18˚C. The average ammonia level was 0.5-1 mg/L. The pH of the water is alkaline which might be due to constant weathering. These findings were like the previous reports from high-altitude lakes.