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Zhang E, Wong SY, Czechowski P, Terauds A, Ray AE, Benaud N, Chelliah DS, Wilkins D, Montgomery K, Ferrari BC. Effects of increasing soil moisture on Antarctic desert microbial ecosystems. CONSERVATION BIOLOGY : THE JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR CONSERVATION BIOLOGY 2024; 38:e14268. [PMID: 38622950 DOI: 10.1111/cobi.14268] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2023] [Revised: 01/28/2024] [Accepted: 02/02/2024] [Indexed: 04/17/2024]
Abstract
Overgeneralization and a lack of baseline data for microorganisms in high-latitude environments have restricted the understanding of the microbial response to climate change, which is needed to establish Antarctic conservation frameworks. To bridge this gap, we examined over 17,000 sequence variants of bacteria and microeukarya across the hyperarid Vestfold Hills and Windmill Islands regions of eastern Antarctica. Using an extended gradient forest model, we quantified multispecies response to variations along 79 edaphic gradients to explore the effects of change and wind-driven dispersal on community dynamics under projected warming trends. We also analyzed a second set of soil community data from the Windmill Islands to test our predictions of major environmental tipping points. Soil moisture was the most robust predictor for shaping the regional soil microbiome; the highest rates of compositional turnover occurred at 10-12% soil moisture threshold for photoautotrophs, such as Cyanobacteria, Chlorophyta, and Ochrophyta. Dust profiles revealed a high dispersal propensity for Chlamydomonas, a microalga, and higher biomass was detected at trafficked research stations. This could signal the potential for algal blooms and increased nonendemic species dispersal as human activities increase in the region. Predicted increases in moisture availability on the Windmill Islands were accompanied by high photoautotroph abundances. Abundances of rare oligotrophic taxa, such as Eremiobacterota and Candidatus Dormibacterota, which play a crucial role in atmospheric chemosynthesis, declined over time. That photosynthetic taxa increased as soil moisture increased under a warming scenario suggests the potential for competition between primary production strategies and thus a more biotically driven ecosystem should the climate become milder. Better understanding of environmental triggers will aid conservation efforts, and it is crucial that long-term monitoring of our study sites be established for the protection of Antarctic desert ecosystems. Furthermore, the successful implementation of an improved gradient forest model presents an exciting opportunity to broaden its use on microbial systems globally.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eden Zhang
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- Evolution and Ecology Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Sin Yin Wong
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- Evolution and Ecology Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Paul Czechowski
- Helmholtz Institute for Metabolic, Obesity and Vascular Research, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Aleks Terauds
- Environmental Stewardship Program, Australian Antarctic Division, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, Kingston, Tasmania, Australia
| | - Angelique E Ray
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Nicole Benaud
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- Evolution and Ecology Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Devan S Chelliah
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- Evolution and Ecology Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Daniel Wilkins
- Environmental Stewardship Program, Australian Antarctic Division, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, Kingston, Tasmania, Australia
| | - Kate Montgomery
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Belinda C Ferrari
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- Evolution and Ecology Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
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Doytchinov VV, Peykov S, Dimov SG. Study of the Bacterial, Fungal, and Archaeal Communities Structures near the Bulgarian Antarctic Research Base "St. Kliment Ohridski" on Livingston Island, Antarctica. Life (Basel) 2024; 14:278. [PMID: 38398787 PMCID: PMC10890693 DOI: 10.3390/life14020278] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2024] [Revised: 02/09/2024] [Accepted: 02/17/2024] [Indexed: 02/25/2024] Open
Abstract
As belonging to one of the most isolated continents on our planet, the microbial composition of different environments in Antarctica could hold a plethora of undiscovered species with the potential for biotechnological applications. This manuscript delineates our discoveries after an expedition to the Bulgarian Antarctic Base "St. Kliment Ohridski" situated on Livingston Island, Antarctica. Amplicon-based metagenomics targeting the 16S rRNA genes and ITS2 region were employed to assess the metagenomes of the bacterial, fungal, and archaeal communities across diverse sites within and proximal to the research station. The predominant bacterial assemblages identified included Oxyphotobacteria, Bacteroidia, Gammaprotobacteria, and Alphaprotobacteria. A substantial proportion of cyanobacteria reads were attributed to a singular uncultured taxon within the family Leptolyngbyaceae. The bacterial profile of a lagoon near the base exhibited indications of penguin activity, characterized by a higher abundance of Clostridia, similar to lithotelm samples from Hannah Pt. Although most fungal reads in the samples could not be identified at the species level, noteworthy genera, namely Betamyces and Tetracladium, were identified. Archaeal abundance was negligible, with prevalent groups including Woesearchaeales, Nitrosarchaeum, Candidatus Nitrosopumilus, and Marine Group II.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vesselin V Doytchinov
- Department of Genetics, Faculty of Biology, Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski", 1164 Sofia, Bulgaria
| | - Slavil Peykov
- Department of Genetics, Faculty of Biology, Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski", 1164 Sofia, Bulgaria
| | - Svetoslav G Dimov
- Department of Genetics, Faculty of Biology, Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski", 1164 Sofia, Bulgaria
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Savaglia V, Lambrechts S, Tytgat B, Vanhellemont Q, Elster J, Willems A, Wilmotte A, Verleyen E, Vyverman W. Geology defines microbiome structure and composition in nunataks and valleys of the Sør Rondane Mountains, East Antarctica. Front Microbiol 2024; 15:1316633. [PMID: 38380088 PMCID: PMC10877063 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1316633] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/10/2023] [Accepted: 01/09/2024] [Indexed: 02/22/2024] Open
Abstract
Understanding the relation between terrestrial microorganisms and edaphic factors in the Antarctic can provide insights into their potential response to environmental changes. Here we examined the composition of bacterial and micro-eukaryotic communities using amplicon sequencing of rRNA genes in 105 soil samples from the Sør Rondane Mountains (East Antarctica), differing in bedrock or substrate type and associated physicochemical conditions. Although the two most widespread taxa (Acidobacteriota and Chlorophyta) were relatively abundant in each sample, multivariate analysis and co-occurrence networks revealed pronounced differences in community structure depending on substrate type. In moraine substrates, Actinomycetota and Cercozoa were the most abundant bacterial and eukaryotic phyla, whereas on gneiss, granite and marble substrates, Cyanobacteriota and Metazoa were the dominant bacterial and eukaryotic taxa. However, at lower taxonomic level, a distinct differentiation was observed within the Cyanobacteriota phylum depending on substrate type, with granite being dominated by the Nostocaceae family and marble by the Chroococcidiopsaceae family. Surprisingly, metazoans were relatively abundant according to the 18S rRNA dataset, even in samples from the most arid sites, such as moraines in Austkampane and Widerøefjellet ("Dry Valley"). Overall, our study shows that different substrate types support distinct microbial communities, and that mineral soil diversity is a major determinant of terrestrial microbial diversity in inland Antarctic nunataks and valleys.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valentina Savaglia
- InBioS Research Unit, Department of Life Sciences, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
- Laboratory of Protistology and Aquatic Ecology, Department of Biology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Sam Lambrechts
- Laboratory of Protistology and Aquatic Ecology, Department of Biology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
- Laboratory of Microbiology, Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Bjorn Tytgat
- Laboratory of Protistology and Aquatic Ecology, Department of Biology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | | | - Josef Elster
- Faculty of Science, Centre for Polar Ecology, University of South Bohemia České Budějovice and Institute of Botany, Třeboň, Czechia
| | - Anne Willems
- Laboratory of Microbiology, Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Annick Wilmotte
- InBioS Research Unit, Department of Life Sciences, University of Liège, Liège, Belgium
| | - Elie Verleyen
- Laboratory of Protistology and Aquatic Ecology, Department of Biology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Wim Vyverman
- Laboratory of Protistology and Aquatic Ecology, Department of Biology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
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4
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Ray AE, Tribbia DZ, Cowan DA, Ferrari BC. Clearing the air: unraveling past and guiding future research in atmospheric chemosynthesis. Microbiol Mol Biol Rev 2023; 87:e0004823. [PMID: 37914532 PMCID: PMC10732025 DOI: 10.1128/mmbr.00048-23] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2023] Open
Abstract
SUMMARY Atmospheric chemosynthesis is a recently proposed form of chemoautotrophic microbial primary production. The proposed process relies on the oxidation of trace concentrations of hydrogen (≤530 ppbv), carbon monoxide (≤90 ppbv), and methane (≤1,870 ppbv) gases using high-affinity enzymes. Atmospheric hydrogen and carbon monoxide oxidation have been primarily linked to microbial growth in desert surface soils scarce in liquid water and organic nutrients, and low in photosynthetic communities. It is well established that the oxidation of trace hydrogen and carbon monoxide gases widely supports the persistence of microbial communities in a diminished metabolic state, with the former potentially providing a reliable source of metabolic water. Microbial atmospheric methane oxidation also occurs in oligotrophic desert soils and is widespread throughout copiotrophic environments, with established links to microbial growth. Despite these findings, the direct link between trace gas oxidation and carbon fixation remains disputable. Here, we review the supporting evidence, outlining major gaps in our understanding of this phenomenon, and propose approaches to validate atmospheric chemosynthesis as a primary production process. We also explore the implications of this minimalistic survival strategy in terms of nutrient cycling, climate change, aerobiology, and astrobiology.
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Affiliation(s)
- Angelique E. Ray
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, Australia
- Australian Centre for Astrobiology, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, Australia
| | - Dana Z. Tribbia
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, Australia
- Australian Centre for Astrobiology, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, Australia
| | - Don A. Cowan
- Centre for Microbial Ecology and Genomics, Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
| | - Belinda C. Ferrari
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, Australia
- Australian Centre for Astrobiology, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, Australia
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5
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Canini F, Borruso L, Newsham KK, D'Alò F, D'Acqui LP, Zucconi L. Wide divergence of fungal communities inhabiting rocks and soils in a hyper-arid Antarctic desert. Environ Microbiol 2023; 25:3671-3682. [PMID: 37964667 DOI: 10.1111/1462-2920.16534] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2023] [Accepted: 10/24/2023] [Indexed: 11/16/2023]
Abstract
Highly simplified microbial communities colonise rocks and soils of continental Antarctica ice-free deserts. These two habitats impose different selection pressures on organisms, yet the possible filtering effects on the diversity and composition of microbial communities have not hitherto been fully characterised. We hence compared fungal communities in rocks and soils in three localities of inner Victoria Land. We found low fungal diversity in both substrates, with a mean species richness of 28 across all samples, and significantly lower diversity in rocks than in soils. Rock and soil communities were strongly differentiated, with a multinomial species classification method identifying just three out of 328 taxa as generalists with no affinity for either substrate. Rocks were characterised by a higher abundance of lichen-forming fungi (typically Buellia, Carbonea, Pleopsidium, Lecanora, and Lecidea), possibly owing to the more protected environment and the porosity of rocks permitting photosynthetic activity. In contrast, soils were dominated by obligate yeasts (typically Naganishia and Meyerozyma), the abundances of which were correlated with edaphic factors, and the black yeast Cryomyces. Our study suggests that strong differences in selection pressures may account for the wide divergences of fungal communities in rocks and soils of inner Victoria Land.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fabiana Canini
- Department of Ecological and Biological Sciences, University of Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy
| | - Luigimaria Borruso
- Faculty of Agricultural, Environmental and Food Sciences, Free University of Bozen, Bozen-Bolzano, Italy
| | - Kevin K Newsham
- British Antarctic Survey (BAS), Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), Cambridge, UK
| | - Federica D'Alò
- Terrestrial Ecosystems Research Institute (IRET), National Research Council (CNR), Porano (TR), Italy
| | - Luigi P D'Acqui
- Institute of Polar Sciences (ISP), National Research Council (CNR), Messina, Italy
| | - Laura Zucconi
- Department of Ecological and Biological Sciences, University of Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy
- Terrestrial Ecosystems Research Institute (IRET), National Research Council (CNR), Sesto Fiorentino (FI), Italy
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6
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Bissett A, Mamet SD, Lamb EG, Siciliano SD. Linking niche size and phylogenetic signals to predict future soil microbial relative abundances. Front Microbiol 2023; 14:1097909. [PMID: 37645222 PMCID: PMC10461061 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1097909] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2022] [Accepted: 07/10/2023] [Indexed: 08/31/2023] Open
Abstract
Bacteria provide ecosystem services (e.g., biogeochemical cycling) that regulate climate, purify water, and produce food and other commodities, yet their distribution and likely responses to change or intervention are difficult to predict. Using bacterial 16S rRNA gene surveys of 1,381 soil samples from the Biomes of Australian Soil Environment (BASE) dataset, we were able to model relative abundances of soil bacterial taxonomic groups and describe bacterial niche space and optima. Hold out sample validated hypothetical causal networks (structural equation models; SEM) were able to predict the relative abundances of bacterial taxa from environmental data and elucidate soil bacterial niche space. By using explanatory SEM properties as indicators of microbial traits, we successfully predicted soil bacterial response, and in turn potential ecosystem service response, to near-term expected changes in the Australian climate. The methods developed enable prediction of continental-scale changes in bacterial relative abundances, and demonstrate their utility in predicting changes in bacterial function and thereby ecosystem services. These capabilities will be strengthened in the future with growing genome-level data.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Eric G. Lamb
- University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada
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Nikitin DA. Ecological Characteristics of Antarctic Fungi. DOKLADY BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES : PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE USSR, BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES SECTIONS 2023; 508:32-54. [PMID: 37186046 DOI: 10.1134/s0012496622700120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2022] [Revised: 09/15/2022] [Accepted: 09/15/2022] [Indexed: 05/17/2023]
Abstract
In view of the high responsiveness of polar ecosystems to the global climate change, the research of Antarctic microorganisms has become a topical issue. The unique ecosystems that have developed under the severe climate conditions of the continent lack flowering plants but are dominated by soil mycobiota. In addition to performing their classical ecological functions, Antarctic fungi form the basis of local communities, e.g., endoliths and microbial mats. Furthermore, Antarctic fungi are a major force that mediates transformation of rock minerals in situ and makes biologically significant elements available for other organisms. For these reasons, mycobiota plays a central role in the maintenance of ecological equilibrium in Antarctica. The dominant fungal division on the continent is Ascomycota (77.1%), and not Basidiomycota (9.1%), as it is the case on other continents. For a number of reasons, yeasts and yeast-like micromycetes (mainly basidiomycetes) are more tolerant to extreme conditions in various Antarctic biotopes than filamentous fungi. Substantial evidence suggests that filamentous fungi and yeasts are better adapted to existence in ecosystems with extremely low temperatures than other microorganisms. Due to the long-term isolation of Antarctica from other continents, local biota has been evolving largely independently, which led to emergence of multiple endemic fungal taxa. The presence of eurytopes on the continent is presumably related to the global warming and growing anthropogenic pressure. This review discusses the current state of research on the structure of fungal communities of Antarctic subaerial and subaquatic biotopes, the ecological role of yeast-mycelial dimorphism in Antarctic fungi, the problem of endemism of Antarctic mycobiota, as well as the ecological and physiological adaptations of fungi to low temperatures; it also justifies the relevance of research into secondary metabolites of psychrophilic micromycetes.
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Affiliation(s)
- D A Nikitin
- Dokuchaev Soil Science Institute, 119017, Moscow, Russia.
- Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119017, Moscow, Russia.
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8
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The Revision of Lichen Flora Around Maxwell Bay, King George Island, Maritime Antarctic. J Microbiol 2023; 61:159-173. [PMID: 36847971 PMCID: PMC9998320 DOI: 10.1007/s12275-023-00015-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2022] [Revised: 12/27/2022] [Accepted: 12/30/2022] [Indexed: 03/01/2023]
Abstract
Since the floristic study of lichens at the Barton and Weaver Peninsulas of King George Island in 2006, there have been intense investigations of the lichen flora of the two peninsulas as well as that of Fildes Peninsula and Ardley Island in Maxwell Bay, King George Island, South Shetland Islands, maritime Antarctic. In this study, a total of 104 species belonging to 53 genera, are identified from investigations of lichens that were collected in austral summer seasons from 2008 to 2016. Phenotypic and molecular analyses were incorporated for taxonomic identification. In particular, 31 species are found to be endemic to the Antarctic and 22 species are newly recorded to the Maxwell Bay region. Lepra dactylina, Stereocaulon caespitosum, and Wahlenbergiella striatula are newly recorded in the Antarctic, and the previously reported taxon Cladonia furcata is excluded from the formerly recorded list due to misidentification. We also provide ecological and geographical information about lichen associations and habitat preferences.
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9
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Yabe S, Muto K, Abe K, Yokota A, Staudigel H, Tebo BM. Vulcanimicrobium alpinus gen. nov. sp. nov., the first cultivated representative of the candidate phylum "Eremiobacterota", is a metabolically versatile aerobic anoxygenic phototroph. ISME COMMUNICATIONS 2022; 2:120. [PMID: 37749227 PMCID: PMC9758169 DOI: 10.1038/s43705-022-00201-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/26/2022] [Revised: 11/07/2022] [Accepted: 11/10/2022] [Indexed: 09/27/2023]
Abstract
The previously uncultured phylum "Candidatus Eremiobacterota" is globally distributed and often abundant in oligotrophic environments. Although it includes lineages with the genetic potential for photosynthesis, one of the most important metabolic pathways on Earth, the absence of pure cultures has limited further insights into its ecological and physiological traits. We report the first successful isolation of a "Ca. Eremiobacterota" strain from a fumarolic ice cave on Mt. Erebus volcano (Antarctica). Polyphasic analysis revealed that this organism is an aerobic anoxygenic photoheterotrophic bacterium with a unique lifestyle, including bacteriochlorophyll a production, CO2 fixation, a high CO2 requirement, and phototactic motility using type IV-pili, all of which are highly adapted to polar and fumarolic environments. The cells are rods or filaments with a vesicular type intracytoplasmic membrane system. The genome encodes novel anoxygenic Type II photochemical reaction centers and bacteriochlorophyll synthesis proteins, forming a deeply branched monophyletic clade distinct from known phototrophs. The first cultured strain of the eighth phototrophic bacterial phylum which we name Vulcanimicrobium alpinus gen. nov., sp. nov. advances our understanding of ecology and evolution of photosynthesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shuhei Yabe
- Department of Microbial Resources, Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, 980-0845, Japan.
- Hazaka Plant Research Center, Kennan Eisei Kogyo Co., Ltd., Sendai, Miyagi, 989-1311, Japan.
| | - Kiyoaki Muto
- Department of Microbial Resources, Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, 980-0845, Japan
| | - Keietsu Abe
- Department of Microbial Resources, Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, 980-0845, Japan
| | - Akira Yokota
- Department of Microbial Resources, Graduate School of Agricultural Sciences, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi, 980-0845, Japan
| | - Hubert Staudigel
- Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA
| | - Bradley M Tebo
- Department of Chemistry, University of Washington, Box 351700, Seattle, WA, 98195, USA
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10
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Vimercati L, Bueno de Mesquita CP, Johnson BW, Mineart D, DeForce E, Vimercati Molano Y, Ducklow H, Schmidt SK. Dynamic trophic shifts in bacterial and eukaryotic communities during the first 30 years of microbial succession following retreat of an Antarctic glacier. FEMS Microbiol Ecol 2022; 98:6762214. [PMID: 36251461 DOI: 10.1093/femsec/fiac122] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/02/2022] [Revised: 09/30/2022] [Accepted: 10/10/2022] [Indexed: 01/21/2023] Open
Abstract
We examined microbial succession along a glacier forefront in the Antarctic Peninsula representing ∼30 years of deglaciation to contrast bacterial and eukaryotic successional dynamics and abiotic drivers of community assembly using sequencing and soil properties. Microbial communities changed most rapidly early along the chronosequence, and co-occurrence network analysis showed the most complex topology at the earliest stage. Initial microbial communities were dominated by microorganisms derived from the glacial environment, whereas later stages hosted a mixed community of taxa associated with soils. Eukaryotes became increasingly dominated by Cercozoa, particularly Vampyrellidae, indicating a previously unappreciated role for cercozoan predators during early stages of primary succession. Chlorophytes and Charophytes (rather than cyanobacteria) were the dominant primary producers and there was a spatio-temporal sequence in which major groups became abundant succeeding from simple ice Chlorophytes to Ochrophytes and Bryophytes. Time since deglaciation and pH were the main abiotic drivers structuring both bacterial and eukaryotic communities. Determinism was the dominant assembly mechanism for Bacteria, while the balance between stochastic/deterministic processes in eukaryotes varied along the distance from the glacier front. This study provides new insights into the unexpected dynamic changes and interactions across multiple trophic groups during primary succession in a rapidly changing polar ecosystem.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lara Vimercati
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado at Boulder, UCB 334, 1900 Pleasant St, Boulder, CO 80309, United States
| | - Clifton P Bueno de Mesquita
- DOE Joint Genome Institute Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720, United States
| | - Ben W Johnson
- Department of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences 253 Science Hall 2237 Osborn Drive Ames, Iowa 50011-3212, United States
| | - Dana Mineart
- Department of Geological and Atmospheric Sciences 253 Science Hall 2237 Osborn Drive Ames, Iowa 50011-3212, United States
| | - Emelia DeForce
- Integrative Oceanography Division Scripps Institution of Oceanography 9500 Gilman Drive La Jolla, CA 92093 5, United States
| | - Ylenia Vimercati Molano
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado at Boulder, UCB 334, 1900 Pleasant St, Boulder, CO 80309, United States
| | - Hugh Ducklow
- Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory P.O. Box 1000 61 Route 9W Palisades, NY 10964-1000, United States
| | - Steven K Schmidt
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado at Boulder, UCB 334, 1900 Pleasant St, Boulder, CO 80309, United States
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11
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Wang M, Sun H, Xu Z. Analysis of Blueberry Plant Rhizosphere Bacterial Diversity and Selection of Plant Growth Promoting Rhizobacteria. Curr Microbiol 2022; 79:331. [DOI: 10.1007/s00284-022-03031-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/21/2022] [Accepted: 09/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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12
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Kleinteich J, Hanselmann K, Hildebrand F, Kappler A, Zarfl C. Glacier melt-down changes habitat characteristics and unique microbial community composition and physiology in Alpine lakes sediments. FEMS Microbiol Ecol 2022; 98:6617590. [PMID: 35749563 DOI: 10.1093/femsec/fiac075] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2022] [Revised: 04/27/2022] [Accepted: 06/20/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Glacial melt-down alters hydrological and physicochemical conditions in downstream aquatic habitats. In this study we tested if sediment associated microbial communities respond to the decrease of glaciers and associated meltwater flows in high-alpine lakes. We analysed 16 lakes in forefield catchments of three glaciers in the Eastern Swiss Alps on physicochemical and biological parameters. We compared lakes fed by glacier meltwater with hydrologically disconnected lakes, as well as "mixed" lakes that received water from both other lake types. Glacier-fed lakes had a higher turbidity (94 NTU) and conductivity (47 µS/cm), but were up to 5.2°C colder than disconnected lakes (1.5 NTU, 26 µS/cm). Nutrient concentration was low in all lakes (TN <0.05 mg/L, TP <0.02 mg/L). Bacterial diversity in the sediments decreased significantly with altitude. Bacterial community composition correlated with turbidity, temperature, conductivity, nitrate and lake age and was distinctly different between glacier-fed compared to disconnected and mixed water lakes, but not between catchments. Chemoheterotrophic processes were more abundant in glacier-fed compared to disconnected and mixed water lakes where photoautotrophic processes dominated. Our study suggests that the loss of glaciers will change sediment bacterial community composition and physiology that are unique for glacier-fed lakes in mountain and polar regions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julia Kleinteich
- Center for Applied Geoscience, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Germany
| | - Kurt Hanselmann
- Department of Earth Sciences, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Falk Hildebrand
- Earlham Institute, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, Norfolk, NR4 7UZ, UK.,Gut Microbes & Health, Quadram Institute Bioscience, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, Norfolk, NR4 7UQ, UK
| | - Andreas Kappler
- Center for Applied Geoscience, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Germany.,Cluster of Excellence: EXC 2124: Controlling Microbes to Fight Infection, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Christiane Zarfl
- Center for Applied Geoscience, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Germany
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13
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Doytchinov VV, Dimov SG. Microbial Community Composition of the Antarctic Ecosystems: Review of the Bacteria, Fungi, and Archaea Identified through an NGS-Based Metagenomics Approach. LIFE (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2022; 12:life12060916. [PMID: 35743947 PMCID: PMC9228076 DOI: 10.3390/life12060916] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2022] [Revised: 06/09/2022] [Accepted: 06/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Antarctica represents a unique environment, both due to the extreme meteorological and geological conditions that govern it and the relative isolation from human influences that have kept its environment largely undisturbed. However, recent trends in climate change dictate an unavoidable change in the global biodiversity as a whole, and pristine environments, such as Antarctica, allow us to study and monitor more closely the effects of the human impact. Additionally, due to its inaccessibility, Antarctica contains a plethora of yet uncultured and unidentified microorganisms with great potential for useful biological activities and production of metabolites, such as novel antibiotics, proteins, pigments, etc. In recent years, amplicon-based next-generation sequencing (NGS) has allowed for a fast and thorough examination of microbial communities to accelerate the efforts of unknown species identification. For these reasons, in this review, we present an overview of the archaea, bacteria, and fungi present on the Antarctic continent and the surrounding area (maritime Antarctica, sub-Antarctica, Southern Sea, etc.) that have recently been identified using amplicon-based NGS methods.
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Current Insight into Traditional and Modern Methods in Fungal Diversity Estimates. J Fungi (Basel) 2022; 8:jof8030226. [PMID: 35330228 PMCID: PMC8955040 DOI: 10.3390/jof8030226] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2022] [Revised: 02/19/2022] [Accepted: 02/20/2022] [Indexed: 12/04/2022] Open
Abstract
Fungi are an important and diverse component in various ecosystems. The methods to identify different fungi are an important step in any mycological study. Classical methods of fungal identification, which rely mainly on morphological characteristics and modern use of DNA based molecular techniques, have proven to be very helpful to explore their taxonomic identity. In the present compilation, we provide detailed information on estimates of fungi provided by different mycologistsover time. Along with this, a comprehensive analysis of the importance of classical and molecular methods is also presented. In orderto understand the utility of genus and species specific markers in fungal identification, a polyphasic approach to investigate various fungi is also presented in this paper. An account of the study of various fungi based on culture-based and cultureindependent methods is also provided here to understand the development and significance of both approaches. The available information on classical and modern methods compiled in this study revealed that the DNA based molecular studies are still scant, and more studies are required to achieve the accurate estimation of fungi present on earth.
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15
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Cowan DA, Ferrari BC, McKay CP. Out of Thin Air? Astrobiology and Atmospheric Chemotrophy. ASTROBIOLOGY 2022; 22:225-232. [PMID: 35025628 PMCID: PMC8861918 DOI: 10.1089/ast.2021.0066] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
The emerging understanding of microbial trace gas chemotrophy as a metabolic strategy to support energy and carbon acquisition for microbial survival and growth has significant implications in the search for past, and even extant, life beyond Earth. The use of trace gases, including hydrogen and carbon monoxide as substrates for microbial oxidation, potentially offers a viable strategy with which to support life on planetary bodies that possess a suitable atmospheric composition, such as Mars and Titan. Here, we discuss the current state of knowledge of this process and explore its potential in the field of astrobiological exploration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Don A. Cowan
- Centre for Microbial Ecology and Genomics, Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
- Address correspondence to: Don A. Cowan, Centre for Microbial Ecology and Genomics, Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology, University of Pretoria, Building NW2, Room 3-12, Hatfield Campus, Lynnwood Road, Pretoria 0002, South Africa
| | - Belinda C. Ferrari
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, Australian Centre for Astrobiology, UNSW Sydney, Randwick, Australia
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16
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Mezzasoma A, Coleine C, Sannino C, Selbmann L. Endolithic Bacterial Diversity in Lichen-Dominated Communities Is Shaped by Sun Exposure in McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. MICROBIAL ECOLOGY 2022; 83:328-339. [PMID: 34081148 PMCID: PMC8891110 DOI: 10.1007/s00248-021-01769-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2021] [Accepted: 05/05/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
The diversity and composition of endolithic bacterial diversity of several locations in McMurdo Dry Valleys (Continental Antarctica) were explored using amplicon sequencing, targeting the V3 and V4 of the 16S region. Despite the increasing interest in edaphic factors that drive bacterial community composition in Antarctic rocky communities, few researchers focused attention on the direct effects of sun exposure on bacterial diversity; we herein reported significant differences in the northern and southern communities. The analysis of β-diversity showed significant differences among sampled localities. For instance, the most abundant genera found in the north-exposed rocks were Rhodococcus and Blastococcus in Knobhead Mt.; Ktedonobacter and Cyanobacteria Family I Group I in Finger Mt.; Rhodococcus and Endobacter in University Valley; and Segetibacter and Tetrasphaera in Siegfried Peak samples. In south-exposed rocks, instead, the most abundant genera were Escherichia/Shigella and Streptococcus in Knobhead Mt.; Ktedonobacter and Rhodococcus in Finger Mt.; Ktedonobacter and Roseomonas in University Valley; and Blastocatella, Cyanobacteria Family I Group I and Segetibacter in Siegfried Peak. Significant biomarkers, detected by the Linear discriminant analysis Effect Size, were also found among north- and south-exposed communities. Besides, the large number of positive significant co-occurrences may suggest a crucial role of positive associations over competitions under the harsher conditions where these rock-inhabiting microorganisms spread. Although the effect of geographic distances in these extreme environments play a significant role in shaping biodiversity, the study of an edaphic factor, such as solar exposure, adds an important contribution to the mosaic of microbial biodiversity of Antarctic bacterial cryptoendolithic communities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ambra Mezzasoma
- Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Perugia, Borgo XX Giugno 74, 06121, Perugia, Italy
| | - Claudia Coleine
- Department of Ecological and Biological Sciences, University of Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy
| | - Ciro Sannino
- Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences, University of Perugia, Borgo XX Giugno 74, 06121, Perugia, Italy.
| | - Laura Selbmann
- Department of Ecological and Biological Sciences, University of Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy
- Italian Antarctic National Museum (MNA), Mycological Section, Genoa, Italy
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Elevational Constraints on the Composition and Genomic Attributes of Microbial Communities in Antarctic Soils. mSystems 2022; 7:e0133021. [PMID: 35040702 PMCID: PMC8765064 DOI: 10.1128/msystems.01330-21] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
The inland soils found on the Antarctic continent represent one of the more challenging environments for microbial life on Earth. Nevertheless, Antarctic soils harbor unique bacterial and archaeal (prokaryotic) communities able to cope with extremely cold and dry conditions. These communities are not homogeneous, and the taxonomic composition and functional capabilities (genomic attributes) of these communities across environmental gradients remain largely undetermined. We analyzed the prokaryotic communities in soil samples collected from across the Shackleton Glacier region of Antarctica by coupling quantitative PCR, marker gene amplicon sequencing, and shotgun metagenomic sequencing. We found that elevation was the dominant factor explaining differences in the structures of the soil prokaryotic communities, with the drier and saltier soils found at higher elevations harboring less diverse communities and unique assemblages of cooccurring taxa. The higher-elevation soil communities also had lower maximum potential growth rates (as inferred from metagenome-based estimates of codon usage bias) and an overrepresentation of genes associated with trace gas metabolism. Together, these results highlight the utility of assessing community shifts across pronounced environmental gradients to improve our understanding of the microbial diversity found in Antarctic soils and the strategies used by soil microbes to persist at the limits of habitability. IMPORTANCE Antarctic soils represent an ideal system to study how environmental properties shape the taxonomic and functional diversity of microbial communities given the relatively low diversity of Antarctic soil microbial communities and the pronounced environmental gradients that occur across soils located in reasonable proximity to one another. Moreover, the challenging environmental conditions typical of most Antarctic soils present an opportunity to investigate the traits that allow soil microbes to persist in some of the most inhospitable habitats on Earth. We used cultivation-independent methods to study the bacterial and archaeal communities found in soil samples collected from across the Shackleton Glacier region of the Transantarctic Mountains. We show that those environmental characteristics associated with elevation have the greatest impact on the structure of these microbial communities, with the colder, drier, and saltier soils found at higher elevations sustaining less diverse communities that were distinct from those in more hospitable soils with respect to their composition, genomic attributes, and overall life-history strategies. Notably, the harsher conditions found in higher-elevation soils likely select for taxa with lower maximum potential growth rates and an increased reliance on trace gas metabolism to support growth.
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van Dorst J, Wilkins D, Crane S, Montgomery K, Zhang E, Spedding T, Hince G, Ferrari B. Microbial community analysis of biopiles in Antarctica provides evidence of successful hydrocarbon biodegradation and initial soil ecosystem recovery. ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION (BARKING, ESSEX : 1987) 2021; 290:117977. [PMID: 34416497 DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2021.117977] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/15/2021] [Revised: 08/13/2021] [Accepted: 08/13/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Microorganisms comprise the bulk of biodiversity and biomass in Antarctic terrestrial ecosystems. To effectively protect and manage the Antarctic environment from anthropogenic impacts including contamination, the response and recovery of microbial communities should be included in soil remediation efficacy and environmental risk assessments. This is the first investigation into the microbial dynamics associated with large scale bioremediation of hydrocarbon contaminated soil in Antarctica. Over five years of active management, two significant shifts in the microbial community were observed. The initial shift at 12-24 months was significantly correlated with the highest hydrocarbon degradation rates, increased microbial loads, and significant increases in alkB gene abundances. ANCOM analysis identified bacterial genera most likely responsible for the bulk of degradation including Alkanindiges, Arthrobacter, Dietzia and Rhodococcus. The second microbial community shift occurring from 36 to 60 months was associated with further reductions in hydrocarbons and a recovery of amoA nitrification genes, but also increasing pH, accumulation of nitrite and a reduction of oligotrophic bacterial species. Over time, the addition of inorganic fertilisers altered the soil chemistry and led to a disruption of the nitrogen cycle, most likely decoupling ammonia oxidisers from nitrite oxidisers, resulting in nitrite accumulation. The results from this study provide key insights to the long-term management of hydrocarbon bioremediation in Antarctic soils.
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Affiliation(s)
- Josie van Dorst
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, UNSW Sydney, Australia.
| | - Daniel Wilkins
- Environmental Protection Program, Australian Antarctic Division, Kingston, Tasmania, Australia
| | - Sally Crane
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, UNSW Sydney, Australia
| | - Kate Montgomery
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, UNSW Sydney, Australia; Evolution and Ecology Research Centre, UNSW Sydney, Australia
| | - Eden Zhang
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, UNSW Sydney, Australia; Evolution and Ecology Research Centre, UNSW Sydney, Australia
| | - Tim Spedding
- Environmental Protection Program, Australian Antarctic Division, Kingston, Tasmania, Australia
| | - Greg Hince
- Environmental Protection Program, Australian Antarctic Division, Kingston, Tasmania, Australia
| | - Belinda Ferrari
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, UNSW Sydney, Australia; Evolution and Ecology Research Centre, UNSW Sydney, Australia.
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Candidatus Eremiobacterota, a metabolically and phylogenetically diverse terrestrial phylum with acid-tolerant adaptations. THE ISME JOURNAL 2021; 15:2692-2707. [PMID: 33753881 PMCID: PMC8397712 DOI: 10.1038/s41396-021-00944-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2020] [Revised: 02/11/2021] [Accepted: 02/18/2021] [Indexed: 02/01/2023]
Abstract
Candidatus phylum Eremiobacterota (formerly WPS-2) is an as-yet-uncultured bacterial clade that takes its name from Ca. Eremiobacter, an Antarctic soil aerobe proposed to be capable of a novel form of chemolithoautotrophy termed atmospheric chemosynthesis, that uses the energy derived from atmospheric H2-oxidation to fix CO2 through the Calvin-Benson-Bassham (CBB) cycle via type 1E RuBisCO. To elucidate the phylogenetic affiliation and metabolic capacities of Ca. Eremiobacterota, we analysed 63 public metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) and nine new MAGs generated from Antarctic soil metagenomes. These MAGs represent both recognized classes within Ca. Eremiobacterota, namely Ca. Eremiobacteria and UBP9. Ca. Eremiobacteria are inferred to be facultatively acidophilic with a preference for peptides and amino acids as nutrient sources. Epifluorescence microscopy revealed Ca. Eremiobacteria cells from Antarctica desert soil to be coccoid in shape. Two orders are recognized within class Ca. Eremiobacteria: Ca. Eremiobacterales and Ca. Baltobacterales. The latter are metabolically versatile, with individual members having genes required for trace gas driven autotrophy, anoxygenic photosynthesis, CO oxidation, and anaerobic respiration. UBP9, here renamed Ca. Xenobia class. nov., are inferred to be obligate heterotrophs with acidophilic adaptations, but individual members having highly divergent metabolic capacities compared to Ca. Eremiobacteria, especially with regard to respiration and central carbon metabolism. We conclude Ca. Eremiobacterota to be an ecologically versatile phylum with the potential to thrive under an array of "extreme" environmental conditions.
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20
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Kudinova AG, Dolgih AV, Mergelov NS, Shorkunov IG, Maslova OA, Petrova MA. The Abundance and Taxonomic Diversity of Filterable Forms of Bacteria during Succession in the Soils of Antarctica (Bunger Hills). Microorganisms 2021; 9:1728. [PMID: 34442807 PMCID: PMC8400457 DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms9081728] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2021] [Revised: 08/09/2021] [Accepted: 08/11/2021] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Previous studies have shown that a significant part of the bacterial communities of Antarctic soils is represented by cells passing through filters with pore sizes of 0.2 µm. These results raised new research questions about the composition and diversity of the filterable forms of bacteria (FFB) in Antarctic soils and their role in the adaptation of bacteria to the extreme living conditions. To answer such questions, we analyzed the succession of bacterial communities during incubation of Antarctic soil samples from the Bunger Hills at increased humidity and positive temperatures (5 °C and 20 °C). We determined the total number of viable cells by fluorescence microscopy in all samples and assessed the taxonomic diversity of bacteria by next-generation sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene region. Our results have shown that at those checkpoints where the total number of cells reached the maximum, the FFB fraction reached its minimum, and vice versa. We did not observe significant changes in taxonomic diversity in the soil bacterial communities during succession. During our study, we found that the soil bacterial communities as a whole and the FFB fraction consist of almost the same phylogenetic groups. We suppose rapid transition of the cells of the active part of the bacterial population to small dormant forms is one of the survival strategies in extreme conditions and contributes to the stable functioning of microbial communities in Antarctic soils.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alina G. Kudinova
- Institute of Molecular Genetics of National Research Centre «Kurchatov Institute», Akademika Kurchatova Square 2, 123182 Moscow, Russia;
| | - Andrey V. Dolgih
- Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Staromonetnyy Lane 29, 119017 Moscow, Russia; (A.V.D.); (N.S.M.); (I.G.S.)
| | - Nikita S. Mergelov
- Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Staromonetnyy Lane 29, 119017 Moscow, Russia; (A.V.D.); (N.S.M.); (I.G.S.)
| | - Ilya G. Shorkunov
- Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Staromonetnyy Lane 29, 119017 Moscow, Russia; (A.V.D.); (N.S.M.); (I.G.S.)
| | - Olga A. Maslova
- Institute of Molecular Genetics of National Research Centre «Kurchatov Institute», Akademika Kurchatova Square 2, 123182 Moscow, Russia;
| | - Mayya A. Petrova
- Institute of Molecular Genetics of National Research Centre «Kurchatov Institute», Akademika Kurchatova Square 2, 123182 Moscow, Russia;
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21
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Severgnini M, Canini F, Consolandi C, Camboni T, Paolo D'Acqui L, Mascalchi C, Ventura S, Zucconi L. Highly differentiated soil bacterial communities in Victoria Land macro-areas (Antarctica). FEMS Microbiol Ecol 2021; 97:6307020. [PMID: 34151349 DOI: 10.1093/femsec/fiab087] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/08/2021] [Accepted: 06/17/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Ice-free areas of Victoria Land, in Antarctica, are characterized by different terrestrial ecosystems, that are dominated by microorganisms supporting highly adapted communities. Despite the unique conditions of these ecosystems, reports on their bacterial diversity are still fragmentary. From this perspective, 60 samples from 14 localities were analyzed. These localities were distributed in coastal sites with differently developed biological soil crusts, inner sites in the McMurdo Dry Valleys with soils lacking of plant coverage, and a site called Icarus Camp, with a crust developed on a thin locally weathered substrate of the underlying parent granitic-rock. Bacterial diversity was studied through 16S rRNA metabarcoding sequencing. Communities diversity, composition and the abundance and composition of different taxonomic groups were correlated to soil physicochemical characteristics. Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Cyanobacteria and Proteobacteria dominated these communities. Most phyla were mainly driven by soil granulometry, an often disregarded parameter and other abiotic parameters. Bacterial composition differed greatly among the three macrohabitats, each having a distinct bacterial profile. Communities within the two main habitats (coastal and inner ones) were well differentiated from each other as well, therefore depending on site-specific physicochemical characteristics. A core community of the whole samples was observed, mainly represented by Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marco Severgnini
- Institute of Biomedical Technologies, National Research Council (ITB-CNR), via f.lli Cervi, 93, 20054, Segrate, Italy
| | - Fabiana Canini
- Department of Ecological and Biological Sciences, University of Tuscia, Largo dell'Università s.n.c., 01100, Viterbo, Italy
| | - Clarissa Consolandi
- Institute of Biomedical Technologies, National Research Council (ITB-CNR), via f.lli Cervi, 93, 20054, Segrate, Italy
| | - Tania Camboni
- Institute of Biomedical Technologies, National Research Council (ITB-CNR), via f.lli Cervi, 93, 20054, Segrate, Italy
| | - Luigi Paolo D'Acqui
- Terrestria Ecosystems Research Institute, National Research Council (IRET-CNR), Via Madonna del Piano 10, 50019, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy
| | - Cristina Mascalchi
- Terrestria Ecosystems Research Institute, National Research Council (IRET-CNR), Via Madonna del Piano 10, 50019, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy
| | - Stefano Ventura
- Terrestria Ecosystems Research Institute, National Research Council (IRET-CNR), Via Madonna del Piano 10, 50019, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy.,The Italian Embassy in Israel, Trade Tower, 25 Hamered Street, 68125, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Laura Zucconi
- Department of Ecological and Biological Sciences, University of Tuscia, Largo dell'Università s.n.c., 01100, Viterbo, Italy
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22
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Krauze P, Wagner D, Yang S, Spinola D, Kühn P. Influence of prokaryotic microorganisms on initial soil formation along a glacier forefield on King George Island, maritime Antarctica. Sci Rep 2021; 11:13135. [PMID: 34162928 PMCID: PMC8222374 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-92205-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2021] [Accepted: 06/02/2021] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Compared to the 1970s, the edge of the Ecology Glacier on King George Island, maritime Antarctica, is positioned more than 500 m inwards, exposing a large area of new terrain to soil-forming processes and periglacial climate for more than 40 years. To gain information on the state of soil formation and its interplay with microbial activity, three hyperskeletic Cryosols (vegetation cover of 0-80%) deglaciated after 1979 in the foreland of the Ecology Glacier and a Cambic Cryosol (vegetation cover of 100%) distal to the lateral moraine deglaciated before 1956 were investigated by combining soil chemical and microbiological methods. In the upper part of all soils, a decrease in soil pH was observed, but only the Cambic Cryosol showed a clear direction of pedogenic and weathering processes, such as initial silicate weathering indicated by a decreasing Chemical Index of Alteration with depth. Differences in the development of these initial soils could be related to different microbial community compositions and vegetation coverage, despite the short distance among them. We observed-decreasing with depth-the highest bacterial abundances and microbial diversity at vegetated sites. Multiple clusters of abundant amplicon sequence variants were found depending on the site-specific characteristics as well as a distinct shift in the microbial community structure towards more similar communities at soil depths > 10 cm. In the foreland of the Ecology Glacier, the main soil-forming processes on a decadal timescale are acidification and accumulation of soil organic carbon and nitrogen, accompanied by changes in microbial abundances, microbial community compositions, and plant coverage, whereas quantifiable silicate weathering and the formation of pedogenic oxides occur on a centennial to a millennial timescale after deglaciation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patryk Krauze
- GFZ, German Research Centre for Geosciences, Helmholtz Centre Potsdam, Section Geomicrobiology, 14473, Potsdam, Germany.
| | - Dirk Wagner
- GFZ, German Research Centre for Geosciences, Helmholtz Centre Potsdam, Section Geomicrobiology, 14473, Potsdam, Germany
- Institute of Geosciences, University of Potsdam, 14476, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Sizhong Yang
- GFZ, German Research Centre for Geosciences, Helmholtz Centre Potsdam, Section Geomicrobiology, 14473, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Diogo Spinola
- Department of Geosciences, Research Area Geography, Laboratory of Soil Science and Geoecology, Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, 72070, Tübingen, Germany
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, 99775-6160, USA
| | - Peter Kühn
- Department of Geosciences, Research Area Geography, Laboratory of Soil Science and Geoecology, Eberhard Karls University Tübingen, 72070, Tübingen, Germany
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23
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Montgomery K, Williams TJ, Brettle M, Berengut JF, Zhang E, Zaugg J, Hugenholtz P, Ferrari BC. Persistence and resistance: survival mechanisms of Candidatus Dormibacterota from nutrient-poor Antarctic soils. Environ Microbiol 2021; 23:4276-4294. [PMID: 34029441 DOI: 10.1111/1462-2920.15610] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2021] [Revised: 05/18/2021] [Accepted: 05/19/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Candidatus Dormibacterota is an uncultured bacterial phylum found predominantly in soil that is present in high abundances within cold desert soils. Here, we interrogate nine metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs), including six new MAGs derived from soil metagenomes obtained from two eastern Antarctic sites. Phylogenomic and taxonomic analyses revealed these MAGs represent four genera and five species, representing two order-level clades within Ca. Dormibacterota. Metabolic reconstructions of these MAGs revealed the potential for aerobic metabolism, and versatile adaptations enabling persistence in the 'extreme' Antarctic environment. Primary amongst these adaptations were abilities to scavenge atmospheric H2 and CO as energy sources, as well as using the energy derived from H2 oxidation to fix atmospheric CO2 via the Calvin-Bassham-Benson cycle, using a RuBisCO type IE. We propose that these allow Ca. Dormibacterota to persist using H2 oxidation and grow using atmospheric chemosynthesis in terrestrial Antarctica. Fluorescence in situ hybridization revealed Ca. Dormibacterota to be coccoid cells, 0.3-1.4 μm in diameter, with some cells exhibiting the potential for a symbiotic or syntrophic lifestyle.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kate Montgomery
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, UNSW Sydney, Randwick, NSW, 2052, Australia
| | - Timothy J Williams
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, UNSW Sydney, Randwick, NSW, 2052, Australia
| | - Merryn Brettle
- Biomedical Imaging Facility, Mark Wainwright Analytical Centre, UNSW Sydney, Randwick, NSW, 2052, Australia
| | - Jonathan F Berengut
- EMBL Australia Node for Single Molecule Science, School of Medical Sciences, UNSW Sydney, Kensington, NSW, 2052, Australia
| | - Eden Zhang
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, UNSW Sydney, Randwick, NSW, 2052, Australia
| | - Julian Zaugg
- Australian Centre for Ecogenomics, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Qld, 4072, Australia
| | - Philip Hugenholtz
- Australian Centre for Ecogenomics, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Qld, 4072, Australia
| | - Belinda C Ferrari
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, UNSW Sydney, Randwick, NSW, 2052, Australia
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24
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Ray AE, Zhang E, Terauds A, Ji M, Kong W, Ferrari BC. Soil Microbiomes With the Genetic Capacity for Atmospheric Chemosynthesis Are Widespread Across the Poles and Are Associated With Moisture, Carbon, and Nitrogen Limitation. Front Microbiol 2020; 11:1936. [PMID: 32903524 PMCID: PMC7437527 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.01936] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/12/2020] [Accepted: 07/22/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Soil microbiomes within oligotrophic cold deserts are extraordinarily diverse. Increasingly, oligotrophic sites with low levels of phototrophic primary producers are reported, leading researchers to question their carbon and energy sources. A novel microbial carbon fixation process termed atmospheric chemosynthesis recently filled this gap as it was shown to be supporting primary production at two Eastern Antarctic deserts. Atmospheric chemosynthesis uses energy liberated from the oxidation of atmospheric hydrogen to drive the Calvin-Benson-Bassham (CBB) cycle through a new chemotrophic form of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBisCO), designated IE. Here, we propose that the genetic determinants of this process; RuBisCO type IE (rbcL1E) and high affinity group 1h-[NiFe]-hydrogenase (hhyL) are widespread across cold desert soils and that this process is linked to dry and nutrient-poor environments. We used quantitative PCR (qPCR) to quantify these genes in 122 soil microbiomes across the three poles; spanning the Tibetan Plateau, 10 Antarctic and three high Arctic sites. Both genes were ubiquitous, being present at variable abundances in all 122 soils examined (rbcL1E, 6.25 × 103–1.66 × 109 copies/g soil; hhyL, 6.84 × 103–5.07 × 108 copies/g soil). For the Antarctic and Arctic sites, random forest and correlation analysis against 26 measured soil physicochemical parameters revealed that rbcL1E and hhyL genes were associated with lower soil moisture, carbon and nitrogen content. While further studies are required to quantify the rates of trace gas carbon fixation and the organisms involved, we highlight the global potential of desert soil microbiomes to be supported by this new minimalistic mode of carbon fixation, particularly throughout dry oligotrophic environments, which encompass more than 35% of the Earth’s surface.
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Affiliation(s)
- Angelique E Ray
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Eden Zhang
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Aleks Terauds
- Australian Antarctic Division, Department of Environment, Antarctic Conservation and Management, Kingston, TAS, Australia
| | - Mukan Ji
- Key Laboratory of Alpine Ecology and Biodiversity, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Weidong Kong
- Key Laboratory of Alpine Ecology and Biodiversity, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Belinda C Ferrari
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
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Větrovský T, Morais D, Kohout P, Lepinay C, Algora C, Awokunle Hollá S, Bahnmann BD, Bílohnědá K, Brabcová V, D'Alò F, Human ZR, Jomura M, Kolařík M, Kvasničková J, Lladó S, López-Mondéjar R, Martinović T, Mašínová T, Meszárošová L, Michalčíková L, Michalová T, Mundra S, Navrátilová D, Odriozola I, Piché-Choquette S, Štursová M, Švec K, Tláskal V, Urbanová M, Vlk L, Voříšková J, Žifčáková L, Baldrian P. GlobalFungi, a global database of fungal occurrences from high-throughput-sequencing metabarcoding studies. Sci Data 2020; 7:228. [PMID: 32661237 PMCID: PMC7359306 DOI: 10.1038/s41597-020-0567-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 77] [Impact Index Per Article: 19.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2020] [Accepted: 06/05/2020] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Fungi are key players in vital ecosystem services, spanning carbon cycling, decomposition, symbiotic associations with cultivated and wild plants and pathogenicity. The high importance of fungi in ecosystem processes contrasts with the incompleteness of our understanding of the patterns of fungal biogeography and the environmental factors that drive those patterns. To reduce this gap of knowledge, we collected and validated data published on the composition of soil fungal communities in terrestrial environments including soil and plant-associated habitats and made them publicly accessible through a user interface at https://globalfungi.com . The GlobalFungi database contains over 600 million observations of fungal sequences across > 17 000 samples with geographical locations and additional metadata contained in 178 original studies with millions of unique nucleotide sequences (sequence variants) of the fungal internal transcribed spacers (ITS) 1 and 2 representing fungal species and genera. The study represents the most comprehensive atlas of global fungal distribution, and it is framed in such a way that third-party data addition is possible.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tomáš Větrovský
- Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Vídeňská 1083, 14220, Praha 4, Czech Republic
| | - Daniel Morais
- Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Vídeňská 1083, 14220, Praha 4, Czech Republic
| | - Petr Kohout
- Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Vídeňská 1083, 14220, Praha 4, Czech Republic
| | - Clémentine Lepinay
- Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Vídeňská 1083, 14220, Praha 4, Czech Republic
| | - Camelia Algora
- Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Vídeňská 1083, 14220, Praha 4, Czech Republic
| | - Sandra Awokunle Hollá
- Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Vídeňská 1083, 14220, Praha 4, Czech Republic
| | - Barbara Doreen Bahnmann
- Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Vídeňská 1083, 14220, Praha 4, Czech Republic
| | - Květa Bílohnědá
- Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Vídeňská 1083, 14220, Praha 4, Czech Republic
| | - Vendula Brabcová
- Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Vídeňská 1083, 14220, Praha 4, Czech Republic
| | - Federica D'Alò
- Laboratory of Systematic Botany and Mycology, University of Tuscia, Largo dell'Università snc, Viterbo, 01100, Italy
| | - Zander Rainier Human
- Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Vídeňská 1083, 14220, Praha 4, Czech Republic
| | - Mayuko Jomura
- Department of Forest Science and Resources, College of Bioresource Sciences, Nihon University, Fujisawa, Kanagawa, Japan
| | - Miroslav Kolařík
- Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Vídeňská 1083, 14220, Praha 4, Czech Republic
| | - Jana Kvasničková
- Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Vídeňská 1083, 14220, Praha 4, Czech Republic
| | - Salvador Lladó
- Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Vídeňská 1083, 14220, Praha 4, Czech Republic
| | - Rubén López-Mondéjar
- Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Vídeňská 1083, 14220, Praha 4, Czech Republic
| | - Tijana Martinović
- Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Vídeňská 1083, 14220, Praha 4, Czech Republic
| | - Tereza Mašínová
- Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Vídeňská 1083, 14220, Praha 4, Czech Republic
| | - Lenka Meszárošová
- Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Vídeňská 1083, 14220, Praha 4, Czech Republic
| | - Lenka Michalčíková
- Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Vídeňská 1083, 14220, Praha 4, Czech Republic
| | - Tereza Michalová
- Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Vídeňská 1083, 14220, Praha 4, Czech Republic
| | - Sunil Mundra
- Department of Biology, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
- Section for Genetics and Evolutionary Biology, University of Oslo, Blindernveien 31, 0316, Oslo, Norway
| | - Diana Navrátilová
- Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Vídeňská 1083, 14220, Praha 4, Czech Republic
| | - Iñaki Odriozola
- Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Vídeňská 1083, 14220, Praha 4, Czech Republic
| | - Sarah Piché-Choquette
- Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Vídeňská 1083, 14220, Praha 4, Czech Republic
| | - Martina Štursová
- Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Vídeňská 1083, 14220, Praha 4, Czech Republic
| | - Karel Švec
- Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Vídeňská 1083, 14220, Praha 4, Czech Republic
| | - Vojtěch Tláskal
- Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Vídeňská 1083, 14220, Praha 4, Czech Republic
| | - Michaela Urbanová
- Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Vídeňská 1083, 14220, Praha 4, Czech Republic
| | - Lukáš Vlk
- Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Vídeňská 1083, 14220, Praha 4, Czech Republic
| | - Jana Voříšková
- Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Vídeňská 1083, 14220, Praha 4, Czech Republic
| | - Lucia Žifčáková
- Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Vídeňská 1083, 14220, Praha 4, Czech Republic
| | - Petr Baldrian
- Institute of Microbiology of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Vídeňská 1083, 14220, Praha 4, Czech Republic.
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Sheremet A, Jones GM, Jarett J, Bowers RM, Bedard I, Culham C, Eloe-Fadrosh EA, Ivanova N, Malmstrom RR, Grasby SE, Woyke T, Dunfield PF. Ecological and genomic analyses of candidate phylum WPS-2 bacteria in an unvegetated soil. Environ Microbiol 2020; 22:3143-3157. [PMID: 32372527 DOI: 10.1111/1462-2920.15054] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2019] [Revised: 04/28/2020] [Accepted: 04/29/2020] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
Abstract
Members of the bacterial candidate phylum WPS-2 (or Eremiobacterota) are abundant in several dry, bare soil environments. In a bare soil deposited by an extinct iron-sulfur spring, we found that WPS-2 comprised up to 24% of the bacterial community and up to 108 cells per g of soil based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing and quantification. A single genus-level cluster (Ca. Rubrimentiphilum) predominated in bare soils but was less abundant in adjacent forest. Nearly complete genomes of Ca. Rubrimentiphilum were recovered as single amplified genomes (SAGs) and metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs). Surprisingly, given the abundance of WPS-2 in bare soils, the genomes did not indicate any capacity for autotrophy, phototrophy, or trace gas metabolism. Instead, they suggest a predominantly aerobic organoheterotrophic lifestyle, perhaps based on scavenging amino acids, nucleotides, and complex oligopeptides, along with lithotrophic capacity on thiosulfate. Network analyses of the entire community showed that some species of Chloroflexi, Actinobacteria, and candidate phylum AD3 (or Dormibacterota) co-occurred with Ca. Rubrimentiphilum and may represent ecological or metabolic partners. We propose that Ca. Rubrimentiphilum act as efficient heterotrophic scavengers. Combined with previous studies, these data suggest that the phylum WPS-2 includes bacteria with diverse metabolic capabilities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andriy Sheremet
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, 2500 University Dr. NW Calgary, Alberta, T2N 1N4, Canada
| | - Gareth M Jones
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, 2500 University Dr. NW Calgary, Alberta, T2N 1N4, Canada
| | - Jessica Jarett
- Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek CA, 94598, USA
| | - Robert M Bowers
- Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek CA, 94598, USA
| | - Isaac Bedard
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, 2500 University Dr. NW Calgary, Alberta, T2N 1N4, Canada
| | - Cassandra Culham
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, 2500 University Dr. NW Calgary, Alberta, T2N 1N4, Canada
| | | | - Natalia Ivanova
- Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek CA, 94598, USA
| | - Rex R Malmstrom
- Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek CA, 94598, USA
| | | | - Tanja Woyke
- Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek CA, 94598, USA
| | - Peter F Dunfield
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Calgary, 2500 University Dr. NW Calgary, Alberta, T2N 1N4, Canada
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Canini F, Geml J, D'Acqui LP, Selbmann L, Onofri S, Ventura S, Zucconi L. Exchangeable cations and pH drive diversity and functionality of fungal communities in biological soil crusts from coastal sites of Victoria Land, Antarctica. FUNGAL ECOL 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.funeco.2020.100923] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
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28
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Li J, Gu X, Gui Y. Prokaryotic Diversity and Composition of Sediments From Prydz Bay, the Antarctic Peninsula Region, and the Ross Sea, Southern Ocean. Front Microbiol 2020; 11:783. [PMID: 32411115 PMCID: PMC7198716 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.00783] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2020] [Accepted: 04/01/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The V3–V4 hypervariable regions of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene were analyzed to assess prokaryotic diversity and community compositions within 19 surface sediment samples collected from three different regions (depth: 250–3,548 m) of Prydz Bay, the Antarctic Peninsula region, and the Ross Sea. In our results, we characterized 1,079,709 clean tag sequences representing 43,227 operational taxonomic units (OTUs, 97% similarity). The prokaryotic community distribution exhibited obvious geographical differences, and the sequences formed three distinct clusters according to the samples’ origins. In general, the biodiversity of Prydz Bay was higher than those of the Antarctic Peninsula region and the Ross Sea, and there were similar prokaryotic communities in different geographic locations. The most dominant clades in the prokaryotic communities were Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Thaumarchaeota, Oxyphotobacteria, Deinococcus-Thermus, Firmicutes, Acidobacteria, Fusobacteria, and Planctomycetes, but unique prokaryotic community compositions were found in each of the sampling regions. Our results also demonstrated that the prokaryotic diversity and community distribution were mainly influenced by geographical and physicochemical factors, such as Zn, V, Na, K, water depth, and especially geographical distance (longitude variation of sample location) and Ba ion content. Moreover, geochemical factors such as nutrient contents (TC, P, and Ca) also played important roles in prokaryotic diversity and community distribution. This represents the first report that Ba ion content has an obvious effect on prokaryotic diversity and community distribution in Southern Ocean sediments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiang Li
- Marine Bioresource and Environment Research Center, First Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Qingdao, China.,Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) Key Lab for Science & Technology of Marine Ecosystems, First Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Qingdao, China
| | - Xiaoqian Gu
- Marine Bioresource and Environment Research Center, First Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Qingdao, China.,Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) Key Lab for Science & Technology of Marine Ecosystems, First Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Qingdao, China
| | - Yuanyuan Gui
- College of Environmental Science and Engineering Qingdao University, Qingdao, China
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29
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Noh HJ, Lee YM, Park CH, Lee HK, Cho JC, Hong SG. Microbiome in Cladonia squamosa Is Vertically Stratified According to Microclimatic Conditions. Front Microbiol 2020; 11:268. [PMID: 32161575 PMCID: PMC7053493 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.00268] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2019] [Accepted: 02/05/2020] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Lichens are miniature ecosystems that contain fungi, microalgae, and bacteria. It is generally accepted that symbiosis between mycobiont and photobiont and microbial contribution to the ecosystem support the wide distribution of lichens in terrestrial ecosystems, including polar areas. The composition of symbiotic components can be affected by subtle microenvironmental differences within a thallus, as well as large-scale climate differences. In this study, we investigated fine-scale profiles of algal, fungal, and bacterial compositions through horizontal and vertical positions of the Antarctic lichen Cladonia squamosa colonies by next-generation sequencing of the nuclear large subunit rRNA gene (nucLSU) of eukaryotes and the 16S rRNA gene of bacteria. Apical parts of thalli were exposed to strong light, low moisture, and high variability of temperature compared with basal parts. Microbial diversity increased from apical parts to basal parts of thalli. Asterochloris erici was the major photobiont in apical positions of thalli, but other microalgal operational taxonomic units (OTUs) of Trebouxiophyceae and Ulvophyceae were major microalgal components in basal positions. Photochemical responses of algal components from apical and basal parts of thalli were quite different under variable temperature and humidity conditions. Several fungal OTUs that belonged to Arthoniomycetes and Lecanoromycetes, and diverse bacterial OTUs that belonged to Alphaproteobacteria, Acidobacteria_Gp1, and candidate division WPS-2 showed a clear distribution pattern according to their vertical positions within thalli. The overall lichen microbiome was significantly differentiated by the vertical position within a thallus. These results imply that different microclimate are formed at different lichen thallus parts, which can affect microbial compositions and physiological responses according to positions within the thalli.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hyun-Ju Noh
- Division of Polar Life Sciences, Korea Polar Research Institute, Incheon, South Korea
- Department of Biological Sciences, Inha University, Incheon, South Korea
| | - Yung Mi Lee
- Division of Polar Life Sciences, Korea Polar Research Institute, Incheon, South Korea
| | - Chae Haeng Park
- Division of Polar Life Sciences, Korea Polar Research Institute, Incheon, South Korea
| | - Hong Kum Lee
- Division of Polar Life Sciences, Korea Polar Research Institute, Incheon, South Korea
| | - Jang-Cheon Cho
- Department of Biological Sciences, Inha University, Incheon, South Korea
| | - Soon Gyu Hong
- Division of Polar Life Sciences, Korea Polar Research Institute, Incheon, South Korea
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30
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Garrido-Benavent I, Pérez-Ortega S, Durán J, Ascaso C, Pointing SB, Rodríguez-Cielos R, Navarro F, de los Ríos A. Differential Colonization and Succession of Microbial Communities in Rock and Soil Substrates on a Maritime Antarctic Glacier Forefield. Front Microbiol 2020; 11:126. [PMID: 32117148 PMCID: PMC7018881 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.00126] [Citation(s) in RCA: 44] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2019] [Accepted: 01/20/2020] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Glacier forefields provide a unique chronosequence to assess microbial or plant colonization and ecological succession on previously uncolonized substrates. Patterns of microbial succession in soils of alpine and subpolar glacier forefields are well documented but those affecting high polar systems, including moraine rocks, remain largely unexplored. In this study, we examine succession patterns in pioneering bacterial, fungal and algal communities developing on moraine rocks and soil at the Hurd Glacier forefield (Livingston Island, Antarctica). Over time, changes were produced in the microbial community structure of rocks and soils (ice-free for different lengths of time), which differed between both substrates across the entire chronosequence, especially for bacteria and fungi. In addition, fungal and bacterial communities showed more compositional consistency in soils than rocks, suggesting community assembly in each niche could be controlled by processes operating at different temporal and spatial scales. Microscopy revealed a patchy distribution of epilithic and endolithic lithobionts, and increasing endolithic colonization and microbial community complexity along the chronosequence. We conclude that, within relatively short time intervals, primary succession processes at polar latitudes involve significant and distinct changes in edaphic and lithic microbial communities associated with soil development and cryptogamic colonization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Isaac Garrido-Benavent
- Departamento de Biogeoquímica y Ecología Microbiana, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, CSIC, Madrid, Spain
| | | | - Jorge Durán
- Centre for Functional Ecology, Department of Life Sciences, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
| | - Carmen Ascaso
- Departamento de Biogeoquímica y Ecología Microbiana, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, CSIC, Madrid, Spain
| | - Stephen B. Pointing
- Yale-NUS College, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
- Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Ricardo Rodríguez-Cielos
- ETSI de Telecomunicación, Departamento de Señales, Sistemas y Radiocomunicaciones, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Francisco Navarro
- ETSI de Telecomunicación, Departamento de Matemática Aplicada a las TIC, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Asunción de los Ríos
- Departamento de Biogeoquímica y Ecología Microbiana, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, CSIC, Madrid, Spain
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Communication within East Antarctic Soil Bacteria. Appl Environ Microbiol 2019; 86:AEM.01968-19. [PMID: 31628145 DOI: 10.1128/aem.01968-19] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2019] [Accepted: 10/09/2019] [Indexed: 01/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Antarctica, being the coldest, driest, and windiest continent on Earth, represents the most extreme environment in which a living organism can survive. Under constant exposure to harsh environmental threats, terrestrial Antarctica remains home to a great diversity of microorganisms, indicating that the soil bacteria must have adapted a range of survival strategies that require cell-to-cell communication. Survival strategies include secondary metabolite production, biofilm formation, bioluminescence, symbiosis, conjugation, sporulation, and motility, all of which are often regulated by quorum sensing (QS), a type of bacterial communication. Until now, such mechanisms have not been explored in terrestrial Antarctica. In this study, LuxI/LuxR-based quorum sensing (QS) activity was delineated in soil bacterial isolates recovered from Adams Flat, in the Vestfold Hills region of East Antarctica. Interestingly, we identified the production of potential homoserine lactones (HSLs) with chain lengths ranging from medium to long in 19 bacterial species using three biosensors, namely, Agrobacterium tumefaciens NTL4, Chromobacterium violaceum CV026, and Escherichia coli MT102, in conjunction with thin-layer chromatography (TLC). The majority of detectable HSLs were from Gram-positive species not previously known to produce HSLs. This discovery further expands our understanding of the microbial community capable of this type of communication, as well as provides insights into physiological adaptations of microorganisms that allow them to survive in the harsh Antarctic environment.IMPORTANCE Quorum sensing, a type of bacterial communication, is widely known to regulate many processes, including those that confer a survival advantage. However, little is known about communication by bacteria residing within Antarctic soils. Employing a combination of bacterial biosensors, analytical techniques, and genome mining, we found a variety of Antarctic soil bacteria speaking a common language, via LuxI/LuxR-based quorum sensing, thus potentially supporting survival in a mixed microbial community. This study reports potential quorum sensing activity in Antarctic soils and has provided a platform for studying physiological adaptations of microorganisms that allow them to survive in the harsh Antarctic environment.
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Ward LM, Cardona T, Holland-Moritz H. Evolutionary Implications of Anoxygenic Phototrophy in the Bacterial Phylum Candidatus Eremiobacterota (WPS-2). Front Microbiol 2019; 10:1658. [PMID: 31396180 PMCID: PMC6664022 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2019.01658] [Citation(s) in RCA: 57] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2019] [Accepted: 07/04/2019] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Genome-resolved environmental metagenomic sequencing has uncovered substantial previously unrecognized microbial diversity relevant for understanding the ecology and evolution of the biosphere, providing a more nuanced view of the distribution and ecological significance of traits including phototrophy across diverse niches. Recently, the capacity for bacteriochlorophyll-based anoxygenic photosynthesis has been proposed in the uncultured bacterial WPS-2 phylum (recently proposed as Candidatus Eremiobacterota) that are in close association with boreal moss. Here, we use phylogenomic analysis to investigate the diversity and evolution of phototrophic WPS-2. We demonstrate that phototrophic WPS-2 show significant genetic and metabolic divergence from other phototrophic and non-phototrophic lineages. The genomes of these organisms encode a new family of anoxygenic Type II photochemical reaction centers and other phototrophy-related proteins that are both phylogenetically and structurally distinct from those found in previously described phototrophs. We propose the name Candidatus Baltobacterales for the order-level aerobic WPS-2 clade which contains phototrophic lineages, from the Greek for "bog" or "swamp," in reference to the typical habitat of phototrophic members of this clade.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lewis M. Ward
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, United States
| | - Tanai Cardona
- Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Hannah Holland-Moritz
- Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States
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Staebe K, Meiklejohn KI, Singh SM, Matcher GF. Biogeography of soil bacterial populations in the Jutulsessen and Ahlmannryggen of Western Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica. Polar Biol 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s00300-019-02532-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/31/2023]
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Hu D, Zang Y, Mao Y, Gao B. Identification of Molecular Markers That Are Specific to the Class Thermoleophilia. Front Microbiol 2019; 10:1185. [PMID: 31178855 PMCID: PMC6544083 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2019.01185] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2019] [Accepted: 05/09/2019] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
The class Thermoleophilia is one of the deep-rooting lineages within the Actinobacteria phylum and metagenomic investigation of microbial diversity suggested that species associated with the class Thermoleophilia are abundant in hot spring and soil samples. However, very few species of this class have been cultivated and characterized. Our understanding of the phylogeny and taxonomy of Thermoleophilia is solely based on 16S rRNA sequence analysis of limited cultivable representatives, but no other phenotypic or genotypic characteristics are known that can clearly discriminate members of this class from the other taxonomic units within the kingdom bacteria. This study reports phylogenomic analysis for 12 sequenced members of this class and clearly resolves the interrelationship of not yet cultivated species with reconstructed genomes and known type species. Comparative genome analysis discovered 12 CSIs in different proteins and 32 CSPs that are specific to all species of this class. In addition, a large number of CSIs or CSPs were identified to be unique to certain lineages within this class. This study represents the first and most comprehensive phylogenetic analysis of the class Thermoleophilia, and the identified CSIs and CSPs provide valuable molecular markers for the identification and delineation of species belonging to this class or its subordinate taxa.
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Affiliation(s)
- Danyu Hu
- CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio Resources and Ecology, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Marine Materia Medica, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Yang Zang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio Resources and Ecology, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Marine Materia Medica, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Yingjin Mao
- CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio Resources and Ecology, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Marine Materia Medica, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Beile Gao
- CAS Key Laboratory of Tropical Marine Bio Resources and Ecology, Guangdong Key Laboratory of Marine Materia Medica, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, China
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35
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Lambrechts S, Willems A, Tahon G. Uncovering the Uncultivated Majority in Antarctic Soils: Toward a Synergistic Approach. Front Microbiol 2019; 10:242. [PMID: 30828325 PMCID: PMC6385771 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2019.00242] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2018] [Accepted: 01/29/2019] [Indexed: 01/22/2023] Open
Abstract
Although Antarctica was once believed to be a sterile environment, it is now clear that the microbial communities inhabiting the Antarctic continent are surprisingly diverse. Until the beginning of the new millennium, little was known about the most abundant inhabitants of the continent: prokaryotes. From then on, however, the rising use of deep sequencing techniques has led to a better understanding of the Antarctic prokaryote diversity and provided insights in the composition of prokaryotic communities in different Antarctic environments. Although these cultivation-independent approaches can produce millions of sequences, linking these data to organisms is hindered by several problems. The largest difficulty is the lack of biological information on large parts of the microbial tree of life, arising from the fact that most microbial diversity on Earth has never been characterized in laboratory cultures. These unknown prokaryotes, also known as microbial dark matter, have been dominantly detected in all major environments on our planet. Laboratory cultures provide access to the complete genome and the means to experimentally verify genomic predictions and metabolic functions and to provide evidence of horizontal gene transfer. Without such well-documented reference data, microbial dark matter will remain a major blind spot in deep sequencing studies. Here, we review our current understanding of prokaryotic communities in Antarctic ice-free soils based on cultivation-dependent and cultivation-independent approaches. We discuss advantages and disadvantages of both approaches and how these strategies may be combined synergistically to strengthen each other and allow a more profound understanding of prokaryotic life on the frozen continent.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sam Lambrechts
- Laboratory of Microbiology, Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | | | - Guillaume Tahon
- Laboratory of Microbiology, Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
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Zhang C, Sirijovski N, Adler L, Ferrari BC. Exophiala macquariensis sp. nov., a cold adapted black yeast species recovered from a hydrocarbon contaminated sub-Antarctic soil. Fungal Biol 2019; 123:151-158. [DOI: 10.1016/j.funbio.2018.11.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/15/2018] [Revised: 11/22/2018] [Accepted: 11/26/2018] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
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Malard LA, Pearce DA. Microbial diversity and biogeography in Arctic soils. ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY REPORTS 2018; 10:611-625. [PMID: 30028082 DOI: 10.1111/1758-2229.12680] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/10/2017] [Revised: 07/13/2018] [Accepted: 07/17/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Microorganisms dominate terrestrial environments in the polar regions and Arctic soils are known to harbour significant microbial diversity, far more diverse and numerous in the region than was once thought. Furthermore, the geographic distribution and structure of Arctic microbial communities remains elusive, despite their important roles in both biogeochemical cycling and in the generation and decomposition of climate active gases. Critically, Arctic soils are estimated to store over 1500 Pg of carbon and, thus, have the potential to generate positive feedback within the climate system. As the Arctic region is currently undergoing rapid change, the likelihood of faster release of greenhouse gases such as CO2 , CH4 and N2 O is increasing. Understanding the microbial communities in the region, in terms of their diversity, abundance and functional activity, is key to producing accurate models of greenhouse gas release. This review brings together existing data to determine what we know about microbial diversity and biogeography in Arctic soils.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucie A Malard
- Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE1 8ST, UK
| | - David A Pearce
- Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE1 8ST, UK
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Thakur V, Kumar V, Kumar S, Singh D. Diverse culturable bacterial communities with cellulolytic potential revealed from pristine habitat in Indian trans-Himalaya. Can J Microbiol 2018; 64:798-808. [DOI: 10.1139/cjm-2017-0754] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
The Pangi–Chamba Himalaya (PCH) region is very pristine, unique, and virgin niche for bioresource exploration. In the current study, for the first time, the bacterial diversity of this region was investigated for potential cellulose degraders. A total of 454 pure bacterial isolates were obtained from diverse sites in the PCH region, and 111 isolates were further selected for 16S rDNA characterization based on ARDRA grouping. The identified bacteria belonged to 28 genera representing four phyla: Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Bacteroidetes. Pseudomonas was most abundant genus, followed by Bacillus, Geobacillus, Arthrobacter, Paenibacillus, and Flavobacterium. In addition, six putative novel bacteria (based on 16S rDNA sequence similarity) and thermophiles from non-thermogenic sites were also reported for the first time. Screening for cellulose degradation ability on carboxymethyl cellulose plates revealed that 70.92% of bacteria were cellulolytic. The current study reports diverse bacterial genera (Arthrobacter, Paenibacillus, Chryseobacterium, Pedobacter, Streptomyces, Agromyces, Flavobacterium, and Pseudomonas) with high capacity for cellulose hydrolysis and cellulolytic functionality at wide pH and temperature not previously reported in the literature. Diverse bacterial genera with high cellulolytic activity in broad pH and temperature range provide opportunity to develop a bioprocess for efficient pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass, which is currently being investigated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vikas Thakur
- Biotechnology Division, CSIR – Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, Post Box No. 6, Palampur-176 061, Himachal Pradesh, India
- Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), CSIR – Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh, India
| | - Vijay Kumar
- Biotechnology Division, CSIR – Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, Post Box No. 6, Palampur-176 061, Himachal Pradesh, India
| | - Sanjay Kumar
- Biotechnology Division, CSIR – Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, Post Box No. 6, Palampur-176 061, Himachal Pradesh, India
| | - Dharam Singh
- Biotechnology Division, CSIR – Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, Post Box No. 6, Palampur-176 061, Himachal Pradesh, India
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Beale DJ, Crosswell J, Karpe AV, Metcalfe SS, Morrison PD, Staley C, Ahmed W, Sadowsky MJ, Palombo EA, Steven ADL. Seasonal metabolic analysis of marine sediments collected from Moreton Bay in South East Queensland, Australia, using a multi-omics-based approach. THE SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT 2018; 631-632:1328-1341. [PMID: 29727957 DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.03.106] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2018] [Revised: 03/06/2018] [Accepted: 03/09/2018] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Anthropogenic effects of urban density have altered natural ecosystems. Such changes include eutrophication of freshwater and adjoining coastal habitats, and increased levels of inorganic nutrients and pollutants into waterways. In Australia, these changes are intensified by large-scale ocean-atmospheric events, leading to considerable abiotic stress on the natural flora and fauna. Bacterial communities in marine sediments from Moreton Bay (South East Queensland, Australia) were examined in order to assess the impact of rainfall changes, chemical pollution, and subsequent abiotic stress on living organisms within a marine ecosystem. Sediments were collected during the wet and dry seasons and analyzed using bacterial metagenomics and community metabolomics techniques. Physicochemical data were also analyzed to account for biological variance that may be due to non-rainfall-based abiotic stresses. Wet-dry seasonality was the dominant control on bacterial community structure and metabolic function. Changes in the availability of nutrients, organic matter and light appeared to be the major seasonal stressors. In contrast, urban and industrial pollutants appeared to be minor stressors at the sites sampled. During the wet season, the bacterial community composition reflected organisms that utilize biogeochemical pathways with fast kinetics, such as aerobic metabolism, direct assimilation of inorganic compounds, and primary production. The transition to the dry season saw the bacterial community composition shift towards organisms that utilize more complex organic energy sources, such as carbohydrates and fatty acids, and anaerobic redox processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- D J Beale
- CSIRO Land & Water, Ecosciences Precinct, Dutton Park, QLD 4102, Australia.
| | - J Crosswell
- CSIRO Oceans & Atmosphere, Ecosciences Precinct, Dutton Park, QLD 4102, Australia.
| | - A V Karpe
- CSIRO Land & Water, Ecosciences Precinct, Dutton Park, QLD 4102, Australia.
| | - S S Metcalfe
- CSIRO Land & Water, Ecosciences Precinct, Dutton Park, QLD 4102, Australia.
| | - P D Morrison
- Australian Centre for Research on Separation Science, School of Applied Sciences, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC 3001, Australia.
| | - C Staley
- Biotechnology Institute, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, United States.
| | - W Ahmed
- CSIRO Land & Water, Ecosciences Precinct, Dutton Park, QLD 4102, Australia.
| | - M J Sadowsky
- Biotechnology Institute, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, United States.
| | - E A Palombo
- Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC 3122, Australia.
| | - A D L Steven
- CSIRO Oceans & Atmosphere, Ecosciences Precinct, Dutton Park, QLD 4102, Australia.
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Coleine C, Stajich JE, Zucconi L, Onofri S, Pombubpa N, Egidi E, Franks A, Buzzini P, Selbmann L. Antarctic Cryptoendolithic Fungal Communities Are Highly Adapted and Dominated by Lecanoromycetes and Dothideomycetes. Front Microbiol 2018; 9:1392. [PMID: 30008702 PMCID: PMC6033990 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2018.01392] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2018] [Accepted: 06/06/2018] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Endolithic growth is one of the most spectacular microbial adaptations to extreme environmental constraints and the predominant life-form in the ice-free areas of Continental Antarctica. Although Antarctic endolithic microbial communities are known to host among the most resistant and extreme-adapted organisms, our knowledge on microbial diversity and composition in this peculiar niche is still limited. In this study, we investigated the diversity and structure of the fungal assemblage in the cryptoendolithic communities inhabiting sandstone using a meta-barcoding approach targeting the fungal Internal Transcribed Sequence region 1 (ITS1). Samples were collected from 14 sites in the Victoria Land, along an altitudinal gradient ranging from 1,000 to 3,300 m a.s.l. and from 29 to 96 km distance to coast. Our study revealed a clear dominance of a 'core' group of fungal taxa consistently present across all the samples, mainly composed of lichen-forming and Dothideomycetous fungi. Pareto-Lorenz curves indicated a very high degree of specialization (F0 approximately 95%), suggesting these communities are highly adapted but have limited ability to recover after perturbations. Overall, both fungal community biodiversity and composition did not show any correlation with the considered abiotic parameters, potentially due to strong fluctuations of environmental conditions at local scales.
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Affiliation(s)
- Claudia Coleine
- Department of Ecological and Biological Sciences, University of Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy
- Department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology, Institute for Integrative Genome Biology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, United States
| | - Jason E. Stajich
- Department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology, Institute for Integrative Genome Biology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, United States
| | - Laura Zucconi
- Department of Ecological and Biological Sciences, University of Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy
| | - Silvano Onofri
- Department of Ecological and Biological Sciences, University of Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy
| | - Nuttapon Pombubpa
- Department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology, Institute for Integrative Genome Biology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, United States
| | - Eleonora Egidi
- Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW, Australia
| | - Ashley Franks
- Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Microbiology, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
- Centre for Future Landscapes, La Trobe University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Pietro Buzzini
- Department of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Sciences, Industrial Yeasts Collection DBVPG, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy
| | - Laura Selbmann
- Department of Ecological and Biological Sciences, University of Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy
- Section of Mycology, Italian National Antarctic Museum (MNA), Genoa, Italy
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41
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Atmospheric trace gases support primary production in Antarctic desert surface soil. Nature 2017; 552:400-403. [DOI: 10.1038/nature25014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 206] [Impact Index Per Article: 29.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2016] [Accepted: 11/09/2017] [Indexed: 12/19/2022]
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Pulschen AA, Bendia AG, Fricker AD, Pellizari VH, Galante D, Rodrigues F. Isolation of Uncultured Bacteria from Antarctica Using Long Incubation Periods and Low Nutritional Media. Front Microbiol 2017; 8:1346. [PMID: 28769908 PMCID: PMC5509766 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2017.01346] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2017] [Accepted: 07/03/2017] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Uncultured microorganisms comprise most of the microbial diversity existing on our planet. Despite advances in environmental sequencing and single-cell genomics, in-depth studies about bacterial metabolism and screening of novel bioproducts can only be assessed by culturing microbes in the laboratory. Here we report uncultured, or recalcitrant, microorganisms from an Antarctic soil sample, using relatively simple methods: oligotrophic media, extended incubation periods, observation under stereo microscopy, and selection of slow-growing bacteria. We managed to isolate several rare microorganisms belonging to infrequently isolated or recently described genera, for example Lapillicoccus, Flavitalea, Quadrisphaera, Motilibacter, and Polymorphobacter. Additionally, we obtained isolates presenting 16S rRNA sequence similarity ranging from 92.08 to 94.46% with any other known cultured species, including two distinct isolates from the class Thermoleophilia, that although common in Antarctic soils (as identified by metagenomics), was never reported to be isolated from such samples. Our data indicates that simple methods are still useful for cultivating recalcitrant microorganisms, even when dealing with samples from extreme environments.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Amanda G Bendia
- Departamento de Oceanografia Biológica, Instituto Oceanográfico, Universidade de São PauloButantã, Brazil
| | | | - Vivian H Pellizari
- Departamento de Oceanografia Biológica, Instituto Oceanográfico, Universidade de São PauloButantã, Brazil
| | - Douglas Galante
- Laboratório Nacional de Luz Síncrotron, Centro Nacional de Pesquisa em Energia e MateriaisCampinas, Brazil
| | - Fabio Rodrigues
- Departamento de Química Fundamental, Instituto de Química, Universidade de São PauloButantã, Brazil
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Pudasaini S, Wilson J, Ji M, van Dorst J, Snape I, Palmer AS, Burns BP, Ferrari BC. Microbial Diversity of Browning Peninsula, Eastern Antarctica Revealed Using Molecular and Cultivation Methods. Front Microbiol 2017; 8:591. [PMID: 28439263 PMCID: PMC5383709 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2017.00591] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2016] [Accepted: 03/22/2017] [Indexed: 01/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Browning Peninsula is an ice-free polar desert situated in the Windmill Islands, Eastern Antarctica. The entire site is described as a barren landscape, comprised of frost boils with soils dominated by microbial life. In this study, we explored the microbial diversity and edaphic drivers of community structure across this site using traditional cultivation methods, a novel approach the soil substrate membrane system (SSMS), and culture-independent 454-tag pyrosequencing. The measured soil environmental and microphysical factors of chlorine, phosphate, aspect and elevation were found to be significant drivers of the bacterial community, while none of the soil parameters analyzed were significantly correlated to the fungal community. Overall, Browning Peninsula soil harbored a distinctive microbial community in comparison to other Antarctic soils comprised of a unique bacterial diversity and extremely limited fungal diversity. Tag pyrosequencing data revealed the bacterial community to be dominated by Actinobacteria (36%), followed by Chloroflexi (18%), Cyanobacteria (14%), and Proteobacteria (10%). For fungi, Ascomycota (97%) dominated the soil microbiome, followed by Basidiomycota. As expected the diversity recovered from culture-based techniques was lower than that detected using tag sequencing. However, in the SSMS enrichments, that mimic the natural conditions for cultivating oligophilic “k-selected” bacteria, a larger proportion of rare bacterial taxa (15%), such as Blastococcus, Devosia, Herbaspirillum, Propionibacterium and Methylocella and fungal (11%) taxa, such as Nigrospora, Exophiala, Hortaea, and Penidiella were recovered at the genus level. At phylum level, a comparison of OTU's showed that the SSMS shared 21% of Acidobacteria, 11% of Actinobacteria and 10% of Proteobacteria OTU's with soil. For fungi, the shared OTUs was 4% (Basidiomycota) and <0.5% (Ascomycota). This was the first known attempt to culture microfungi using the SSMS which resulted in an increase in diversity from 14 to 57 microfungi OTUs compared to standard cultivation. Furthermore, the SSMS offers the opportunity to retrieve a greater diversity of bacterial and fungal taxa for future exploitation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarita Pudasaini
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University of New South WalesKensington, NSW, Australia
| | - John Wilson
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University of New South WalesKensington, NSW, Australia
| | - Mukan Ji
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University of New South WalesKensington, NSW, Australia
| | - Josie van Dorst
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University of New South WalesKensington, NSW, Australia
| | - Ian Snape
- Australian Antarctic Division, Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and CommunitiesKingston, TAS, Australia
| | - Anne S Palmer
- Australian Antarctic Division, Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and CommunitiesKingston, TAS, Australia
| | - Brendan P Burns
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University of New South WalesKensington, NSW, Australia
| | - Belinda C Ferrari
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University of New South WalesKensington, NSW, Australia
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Kumar M, Brader G, Sessitsch A, Mäki A, van Elsas JD, Nissinen R. Plants Assemble Species Specific Bacterial Communities from Common Core Taxa in Three Arcto-Alpine Climate Zones. Front Microbiol 2017; 8:12. [PMID: 28174556 PMCID: PMC5258723 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2017.00012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2016] [Accepted: 01/03/2017] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Evidence for the pivotal role of plant-associated bacteria to plant health and productivity has accumulated rapidly in the last years. However, key questions related to what drives plant bacteriomes remain unanswered, among which is the impact of climate zones on plant-associated microbiota. This is particularly true for wild plants in arcto-alpine biomes. Here, we hypothesized that the bacterial communities associated with pioneer plants in these regions have major roles in plant health support, and this is reflected in the formation of climate and host plant specific endophytic communities. We thus compared the bacteriomes associated with the native perennial plants Oxyria digyna and Saxifraga oppositifolia in three arcto-alpine regions (alpine, low Arctic and high Arctic) with those in the corresponding bulk soils. As expected, the bulk soil bacterial communities in the three regions were significantly different. The relative abundances of Proteobacteria decreased progressively from the alpine to the high-arctic soils, whereas those of Actinobacteria increased. The candidate division AD3 and Acidobacteria abounded in the low Arctic soils. Furthermore, plant species and geographic region were the major determinants of the structures of the endophere communities. The plants in the alpine region had higher relative abundances of Proteobacteria, while plants from the low- and high-arctic regions were dominated by Firmicutes. A highly-conserved shared set of ubiquitous bacterial taxa (core bacteriome) was found to occur in the two plant species. Burkholderiales, Actinomycetales and Rhizobiales were the main taxa in this core, and they were also the main contributors to the differences in the endosphere bacterial community structures across compartments as well as regions. We postulate that the composition of this core is driven by selection by the two plants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Manoj Kumar
- Department of Microbial Ecology, University of GroningenGroningen, Netherlands
- Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of JyväskyläJyväskylä, Finland
| | - Günter Brader
- Health and Environment Department, AIT Austrian Institute of TechnologyTulln, Austria
| | - Angela Sessitsch
- Health and Environment Department, AIT Austrian Institute of TechnologyTulln, Austria
| | - Anita Mäki
- Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of JyväskyläJyväskylä, Finland
| | - Jan D. van Elsas
- Department of Microbial Ecology, University of GroningenGroningen, Netherlands
| | - Riitta Nissinen
- Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of JyväskyläJyväskylä, Finland
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Rughöft S, Herrmann M, Lazar CS, Cesarz S, Levick SR, Trumbore SE, Küsel K. Community Composition and Abundance of Bacterial, Archaeal and Nitrifying Populations in Savanna Soils on Contrasting Bedrock Material in Kruger National Park, South Africa. Front Microbiol 2016; 7:1638. [PMID: 27807431 PMCID: PMC5069293 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2016.01638] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2016] [Accepted: 09/30/2016] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Savannas cover at least 13% of the global terrestrial surface and are often nutrient limited, especially by nitrogen. To gain a better understanding of their microbial diversity and the microbial nitrogen cycling in savanna soils, soil samples were collected along a granitic and a basaltic catena in Kruger National Park (South Africa) to characterize their bacterial and archaeal composition and the genetic potential for nitrification. Although the basaltic soils were on average 5 times more nutrient rich than the granitic soils, all investigated savanna soil samples showed typically low nutrient availabilities, i.e., up to 38 times lower soil N or C contents than temperate grasslands. Illumina MiSeq amplicon sequencing revealed a unique soil bacterial community dominated by Actinobacteria (20-66%), Chloroflexi (9-29%), and Firmicutes (7-42%) and an increase in the relative abundance of Actinobacteria with increasing soil nutrient content. The archaeal community reached up to 14% of the total soil microbial community and was dominated by the thaumarchaeal Soil Crenarchaeotic Group (43-99.8%), with a high fraction of sequences related to the ammonia-oxidizing genus Nitrosopshaera sp. Quantitative PCR targeting amoA genes encoding the alpha subunit of ammonia monooxygenase also revealed a high genetic potential for ammonia oxidation dominated by archaea (~5 × 107 archaeal amoA gene copies g-1 soil vs. mostly < 7 × 104 bacterial amoA gene copies g-1 soil). Abundances of archaeal 16S rRNA and amoA genes were positively correlated with soil nitrate, N and C contents. Nitrospira sp. was detected as the most abundant group of nitrite oxidizing bacteria. The specific geochemical conditions and particle transport dynamics at the granitic catena were found to affect soil microbial communities through clay and nutrient relocation along the hill slope, causing a shift to different, less diverse bacterial and archaeal communities at the footslope. Overall, our results suggest a strong effect of the savanna soils' nutrient scarcity on all microbial communities, resulting in a distinct community structure that differs markedly from nutrient-rich, temperate grasslands, along with a high relevance of archaeal ammonia oxidation in savanna soils.
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Affiliation(s)
- Saskia Rughöft
- Chair of Aquatic Geomicrobiology, Institute of Ecology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena Jena, Germany
| | - Martina Herrmann
- Chair of Aquatic Geomicrobiology, Institute of Ecology, Friedrich Schiller University JenaJena, Germany; German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-LeipzigLeipzig, Germany
| | - Cassandre S Lazar
- Chair of Aquatic Geomicrobiology, Institute of Ecology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena Jena, Germany
| | - Simone Cesarz
- German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-LeipzigLeipzig, Germany; Institute of Biology, Leipzig UniversityLeipzig, Germany
| | - Shaun R Levick
- Biogeochemical Processes, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry Jena, Germany
| | - Susan E Trumbore
- Biogeochemical Processes, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry Jena, Germany
| | - Kirsten Küsel
- Chair of Aquatic Geomicrobiology, Institute of Ecology, Friedrich Schiller University JenaJena, Germany; German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-LeipzigLeipzig, Germany
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