Taxonomic Structure of Planktonic Protist Communities in Saline and Hypersaline Continental Waters Revealed by Metabarcoding

Saline and hypersaline waters are one of the most peculiar ecosystems our planet, characterized by extreme life conditions. Despite their worldwide distribution, diversity abundance protist communities in these remain poorly studied. Here, we analyze planktonic protists sampled across 38 saline water environments (2–390‰) from arid climatic zones South Urals Crimea light environmental data using high-throughput 18S rDNA amplicon sequencing. A total 9 eukaryotic supergroups, 34 phyla, 104 classes, 184 orders, 315 families 548 genera have been identified. We revealed significant differences taxonomic structure depending on salinity, geographic location pH. The demonstrated linear regression richness growth percentage unclassified Eukaryota (up to 43%) with increase salinity. Centrohelids ability inhabit a broad range salinities, up 320‰, which is four times higher than previously reported. Centrohelid species Pinjata ruminata Yogsothoth sp. assumed be specifically adapted salinity 3–210‰. obtained results provide insight into taxonomy highlight great potential for discovery new taxa due large number sequences.