Abstract
Actinobacteria are important cave inhabitants, but knowledge of
how anthropization and anthropization-related visual marks affect this
community on cave walls is missing. We compared Actinobacteria
communities among four French limestone caves (Mouflon, Reille,
Rouffignac, and Lascaux) ranging from pristine to anthropized and within
Lascaux Cave between marked (wall visual marks) and unmarked areas on
walls in different rooms (Sas-1, Passage, Apse, and Diaclase). In
addition to the 16S rRNA gene marker, 441-bp fragments of hsp65
gene were used for the identification of Actinobacteria to the
species level by Illumina-MiSeq analysis. The hsp65 marker
revealed higher resolution for species and higher richness (at 99% OTUs
cutoff) than did 16S rRNA assessment which, however, identified more
taxa at higher taxonomic ranks. Actinobacteria communities varied
between Mouflon and Reille caves (both pristine), Rouffignac and Lascaux
(both anthropized). Rouffignac displayed high diversity of
Nocardia, pointing to human inputs, and Lascaux exhibited high
Mycobacterium abundance, whereas Gaiellales were typical
in pristine caves and the Diaclase (the least affected area of Lascaux
Cave). Within Lascaux, Pseudonocardiaceae dominated on unmarked
walls and Streptomycetaceae (especially Streptomyces
mirabilis) on marked walls, raising questions on their possible role in
the formation of visual marks. Our results show how the use of the
hsp65 marker, well beyond the resolution provided by 16S rRNA
sequences, enabled for the first time to document species-level
variations of the Actinobacteria community according to the
extent of anthropogenic pressure. This approach proved effective when
comparing different limestone caves or specific conditions within one
cave.