Jelena Pantović*, Ivana Morić and Lidija Šenerović
Institute of Molecular Genetics and Genetic Engineering, University of Belgrade, Serbia
jelena.pantovic [at] imgge.bg.ac.rs
Abstract
Healing mud, also known as peloid, is a natural material composed of minerals, organic matter, and water, traditionally used in balneotherapy and medical treatments. Peloids represent complex ecosystems enriched with diverse microorganisms capable of producing primary and secondary metabolites with important biological activities, including anti-inflammatory, antiviral, immunomodulatory, and anticancer effects. Among these microorganisms, bacterial communities play a crucial role in the development and maintenance of the therapeutic properties of thermal muds.
Recent advances in Next Generation Sequencing technologies and bioinformatics have enabled comprehensive characterization of microbial communities in environmental samples. However, despite the growing interest in therapeutic mud microbiology, the dynamics of bacterial communities during the peloid maturation process remain insufficiently explored. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the composition and diversity of bacterial communities in thermal peloids at different maturation stages under real environmental conditions.
Samples of thermal peloids were collected throughout the maturation process, and bacterial community profiling was performed using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. Relative abundances of microbial taxa were determined using rarefied datasets and summarized across taxonomic levels. Alpha diversity analyses included observed operational taxonomic units (OTUs), Shannon diversity index, and evenness at the genus level. Beta diversity and differences in community composition among samples were evaluated using principal component analysis (PCA), while statistical analyses were performed to assess significant differences in OTU abundances between maturation stages.
The results demonstrated noticeable shifts in bacterial community structure throughout the maturation process, indicating that maturation strongly influences microbial diversity and composition. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the microbial ecology of therapeutic peloids and may help elucidate the biological mechanisms underlying their beneficial properties.
Keywords: metagenomics, bacterial diversity, peloid maturation