METAGENOMIC ANALYSIS OF MICROBIAL COMMUNITIES IN DEEP KARST SINKHOLES IN YUCATAN PENINSULA, MEXICO

Little is known about the extent of organic pollution in the natural water systems in Yucatan Peninsula. Although it is believed that the lack of industry in the area has kept the pollution levels relatively low, the rampant growth in many areas throughout the peninsula have sharply increased the threat of water pollution as well as raised the question about the treatment of wastewater produced by the increasing population of eastern Quintana Roo. One of the proposed methods of sewage disposal is the injection of raw sewage into the saline groundwater systems. The impact of such treatment has not been thoroughly studied, and this research aims to offer some insight to the effect of such sewage disposal method. We are investigating the composition and interaction of microbial communities in selected deep karst sinkholes (cenotes), which occur in the highly permeable carbonate rocks of the northern Yucatan Peninsula. Microbes are essential participants in the global cycling of sulfur, carbon, and oxygen, but characteristics of such communities are relatively poorly known because of their habitat of deep anaerobic waters. Characterization of these systems will offer a valuable ‘fingerprint’ of the natural microbial communities present, and will allow monitoring of changes in the community composition as a response to change in water quality. It may also offer some insight to natural microbial communities’ ability to perform bioremediation as a response to growing natural water systems’ contamination problem.