Tagus River microbial profile through nanopore sequencing on samples gathered from Prainha do Braco de Prata, Lisbon

List of Authors

  1. Cristiano Pedroso-Roussado ,  
  2. Mariana Pestana
    ,  
  3. Ricardo Dias
    ,  
  4. Mónica Nunes
    ,  
  5. Pedro Pascoal ,  
  6. Marcelo Pereira
    ,  
  7. Nuno Nunes
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Abstract

Background

Freshwater ecosystems play a vital role for hosting life, and their study can elucidate their dynamic state throughout time. However, there is not much knowledge about the microbial profiles and their relevance for the ecosystem balance is still unclear.

Methods

In this Brief Report three freshwater samples collected in the Tagus River north margin were analysed through 16S-targeted nanopore sequencing and by customized bioinformatics pipeline.

Results

Our results revealed a consensual microbial profile with Candidatus Pelagibacter, Egibacter, and Ralstonia as the most abundant genera. Additionally, through a literature review we found that the ecosystem services provided by these genera are mostly related to organic matter decomposition.

Conclusions

Despite the need for a more robust sampling and analyses, we conclude that there is potential to use microbial profile approaches to help define the relevant microbial biomarkers to clarify the ecosystem services in the Tagus River freshwater ecosystem.

Corresponding author
Cristiano Pedroso-Roussado
0000-0001-9286-9296
Grant information

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No [952226] (Enhancing the research and innovation potential of Tecnico through Blockchain technologies and design Innovation for social Good [BIG]) and from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement No [101079995] (Bauhaus of the Seas Sails [BoSS]. This project has also received funding from the PRR (Plano de Recuperação e Resiliência português) under grant agreement No 02-C05-i01.01-2022.PC645022399-00000057 (eGames Lab), from the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia under grant agreement No UIDB/50009/2020 (ITI/LARSyS) and from the Porto Design Biennale.

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Copyright
© 2025 Cristiano Pedroso-Roussado (Corresponding Author, Co-Author); Mariana Pestana (Co-Author); Ricardo Dias (Co-Author); Mónica Nunes (Co-Author); Pedro Pascoal (Co-Author); Marcelo Pereira (Co-Author); Nuno Nunes (Co-Author) Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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Amendment

In this version we extended the methods section to accommodate the comments made by Dr Sushanta Deb. We also provide a figure-style to show the most abundant taxa found in four taxonomic rabks. However, it is our perspective that the relevancy of the discussion should stay at lower taxonomic ranks and not at the highst taxonomic ranks as suggested. Still, we would like to see what is the perspective of Dr Sushanta on the matter.
In respect to the Dr Anyi Hu comments on the "I think it would be better to provide some environmental parameters, such as salinity etc., which can show the investigated area was under the influence of sea intrusion", we cannot provide such data because we did not collect them. So this fact constitute a limitation of our brief report.

Comments

Authors & roles

Cristiano Pedroso-Roussado

ITI/LARSyS, Universidade de Lisboa Instituto Superior Tecnico, Lisboa, Portugal

Roles
Corresponding Author, Co-Author, Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Visualization, Writing – Original Draft Preparation, Writing – Review & Editing

Mariana Pestana

ITI/LARSyS, Universidade de Lisboa Instituto Superior Tecnico, Lisboa, Portugal

Roles
Co-Author, Funding Acquisition, Validation, Writing – Original Draft Preparation, Writing – Review & Editing

Ricardo Dias

BioISI-Biosystems and Integrative Sciences Institute, Universidade de Lisboa Faculdade de Ciencias, Lisbon, Portugal

cE3c-Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes & CHANGE-Global Change and Sustainability Institute, Universidade de Lisboa Faculdade de Ciencias, Lisbon, Portugal

Roles
Co-Author, Data Curation, Investigation, Methodology, Visualization

Mónica Nunes

cE3c-Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes & CHANGE-Global Change and Sustainability Institute, Universidade de Lisboa Faculdade de Ciencias, Lisbon, Portugal

Roles
Co-Author, Data Curation, Investigation, Methodology, Visualization

Pedro Pascoal

cE3c-Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes & CHANGE-Global Change and Sustainability Institute, Universidade de Lisboa Faculdade de Ciencias, Lisbon, Portugal

Roles
Co-Author, Data Curation, Investigation, Methodology, Visualization
0000-0003-1265-1444

Marcelo Pereira

BioISI-Biosystems and Integrative Sciences Institute, Universidade de Lisboa Faculdade de Ciencias, Lisbon, Portugal

Roles
Co-Author, Data Curation, Investigation, Methodology, Visualization

Nuno Nunes

ITI/LARSyS, Universidade de Lisboa Instituto Superior Tecnico, Lisboa, Portugal

Roles
Co-Author, Supervision, Validation, Writing – Original Draft Preparation, Writing – Review & Editing

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