Fecha de publicación: -- Fuente: PubMed "microbial biotechnology" Front Microbiol. 2026 Sep 9;17:1871509. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2026.1871509. eCollection 2026.ABSTRACTHot-springs are accessible yet extreme environments for studying thermophilic microbial communities and their ecological interactions. Here, we isolated and characterized two thermophilic filamentous Leptolyngbya-related cyanobacterial strains, Akita and Seranma, from geothermal hot springs in Japan. The two strains differed in morphology and pigmentation: L. sp. Akita formed linear blue-green filaments, whereas L. sp. Seranma formed loosely coiled brown filaments. Whole-genome sequencing and comparative genomic analyses revealed strain- and strain-group-specific gene enrichment patterns related to nitrogen metabolism, metal binding, mobile genetic elements, and the photosynthetic apparatus, as well as candidate genes putatively associated with thermal tolerance. L. sp. Seranma also showed light-dependent pigmentation changes and retained an rfpABC gene cluster, indicating light-responsive phenotypic and genomic variation. Intestinal 16S rRNA gene metabarcoding of sympatric Buergeria tadpoles detected Leptolyngbya-assigned reads, particularly in B. japonica from Seranma hot-spring. These reads showed a close correspondence to L. sp. Seranma, suggesting possible exposure to, or recent ingestion of, L. sp. Seranma-related cyanobacteria. Together, these findings provide genomic and metabarcoding evidence for a potential trophic association between thermophilic cyanobacteria and amphibian larvae in hot-spring ecosystems.PMID:42781322 | PMC:PMC13598712 | DOI:10.3389/fmicb.2026.1871509