Unveiling the Biodiversity of Hyperthermophilic Archaea in Jharia Coal Mines: Potential Threat to Methanogenesis?

Aim: To examine the biodiversity of archaeal sulfate reducers and methanogens present in the underground coal mines of Jharia using metagenomics and pyrosequencing. Objectives: 1) Bioinformatical analysis of the metagenomic data related to a taxonomic analysis obtained from the coal to investigate complete archaeal taxonomic features of the coal bed methane (CBM) microbiome. 2) Bioinformatical analysis of the metagenomic data related to a functional analysis obtained from the coal to investigate functional features relating to taxonomic diversity of the CBM microbiome. 3) The functional attributes have been examined specifically for ORFs related to sulfite reduction and methanogenesis. : The taxonomic and functional biodiversity related to euryarchaeota will help in a better understanding of the obstacles associated with methane production imposed by the sulfate reducers. Background: The microbial methanogenesis in the coal microbiome is a resultant of substrate utilization by primarily fermentative bacteria and methanogens. The present work reveals the biodiversity of archaeal sulfate reducers and methanogens present in the underground coal mines of Jharia using metagenomics and pyrosequencing. Methodology: Bioinformatical analysis for structural and functional attributes was accomplished using MG-RAST. The structural analysis was accomplished using RefSeq database, whereas the functional analysis was done via CoG database with a cut off value, a sequence percent identity, and sequence alignment length cut off of 1e−5, 60% and 45, respectively. Results: Attained communities revealed the dominance of hyperthermophilic archaea Pyrococcus furiosus along with Thermococcus kodakarensis in the coal metagenome.The obtained results also suggest the presence of dissimilatory sulfite reductase and formylmethanofuran dehydrogenase, formylmethanofuran: tetrahydromethanopterin formyltransferase involved in sulfite reduction and methanogenesis, respectively, in the microbiome. Conclusion: This report is the first attempt to showcase the existence of specific euryarchaeal diversity and their related functional attributes from Jharia coal mines through high throughput sequencing. The study helps in developing a better understanding of the presence of indigenous microbes (archaea) and their functions in the coal microbiome, which can be utilized further to resolve the energy crisis.

Phenological Study of a Medicinally Important Plant Leonotis nepetifolia in Jharia Coal Field

Leonotis nepetifolia (L.) R. Br. is a herbaceous plant belonging to the family Lamiaceae and grows across India by the roadsides or on the barren land field. This plant is medicinally very important. Various parts of the plant are used as depurative, febrifuge, antihelminthic, in relieving cough, in skin problems etc. But the ecology of this plant is also quite interesting. It can even survive the harsh conditions of Jharia coal field where the atmospheric conditions and edaphic factors are not favourable for the growth of various plants. But the plant, Leonotis nepetifolia grows luxuriantly in those stressful conditions as well. Keeping in view this ecological adaptability of this plant the present study was conducted with an objective to study the phenology of this particular plant in various conditions of Jharia coal field of Dhanbad district of Jharkhand so as to know how germination and flowering time of Leonotis nepetifolia changes with adversity so as to understand the ecological aspects quite better. For this, three stressful conditions were chosen where this plant was growing and their phenology was compared with that of the plant growing in controlled conditions. The phenology of this annual plant was found to be quite distinct in different places especially their germination time and death/dormancy.