Time-Series Metatranscriptomic Analyses of Microorganisms in the Witwatersrand Basin of South Africa

Abstract

Recently, the accessible planktonic fracture water from Beatrix Au Mine, located in the Witwatersrand Basin of South Africa, has been used to study subsurface microbial life. Previous metagenomic and metranscriptomic studies have found there to be an active population of microbes, consisting of Methanobacterium and α-, β-, and γ – Proteobacteria. However, this is the first metatranscriptomic study using RNA-seq investigating whether RNA changes at a detectable level during long-term filtration by comparison of three discrete samples collected over a period of hours with a cumulative sample collected over two weeks. Finding that long-term filtration process obfuscates the interpretation of in situ compositional changes through time and that sequence coverage without the use of rRNA depletion is adequate in subsurface sampling.