View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Universiti Teknologi Malaysia Institutional Repository Received: 9 December 2017 | Revised: 29 January 2018 | Accepted: 12 February 2018 DOI: 10.1002/mbo3.615 ORIGINAL RESEARCH Microbial diversity of thermophiles with biomass deconstruction potential in a foliage- rich hot spring Li Sin Lee1 | Kian Mau Goh2 | Chia Sing Chan2 | Geok Yuan Annie Tan1 | Wai-Fong Yin1 | Chun Shiong Chong2 | Kok-Gan Chan1,3 1ISB (Genetics), Faculty of Science, University of Malaysia, Kuala Abstract Lumpur, Malaysia The ability of thermophilic microorganisms and their enzymes to decompose biomass 2 Faculty of Biosciences and Medical have attracted attention due to their quick reaction time, thermostability, and de- Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai, Johor, Malaysia creased risk of contamination. Exploitation of efficient thermostable glycoside hy- 3Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China drolases (GHs) could accelerate the industrialization of biofuels and biochemicals. However, the full spectrum of thermophiles and their enzymes that are important for Correspondence Kok-Gan Chan, International Genome biomass degradation at high temperatures have not yet been thoroughly studied. We Centre, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, China. examined a Malaysian Y- shaped Sungai Klah hot spring located within a wooded area. Email:
[email protected] The fallen foliage that formed a thick layer of biomass bed under the heated water of Funding information the Y- shaped Sungai Klah hot spring was an ideal environment for the discovery and Postgraduate Research Fund grant, Grant/ Award Number: PG124-2016A; University analysis of microbial biomass decay communities. We sequenced the hypervariable of Malaya, Grant/Award Number: GA001- regions of bacterial and archaeal 16S rRNA genes using total community DNA ex- 2016 and GA002-2016; Universiti Teknologi Malaysia GUP, Grant/Award Number: tracted from the hot spring.