TY - JOUR
T1 - Bacterial response to sharp geochemical gradients caused by acid mine drainage intrusion in a terrace
T2 - Relevance of C, N, and S cycling and metal resistance
AU - Sun, Weimin
AU - Sun, Xiaoxu
AU - Li, Baoqin
AU - Xu, Rui
AU - Young, Lily Y.
AU - Dong, Yiran
AU - Zhang, Miaomiao
AU - Kong, Tianle
AU - Xiao, Enzong
AU - Wang, Qi
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Authors
PY - 2020/5
Y1 - 2020/5
N2 - A unique terrace with sharp gradient of environmental conditions was selected to study the microbial response and survival strategies to the extreme environments introduced by acid mine drainage (AMD) contamination. A combination of geochemical analyses, metagenomic sequencing, ex-situ microcosm setups, and statistical analyses were used to investigate the environment-microbe interactions. The microbial communities and metabolic potentials along the terrace were studied by focusing on the genes associated with important biogeochemical processes (i.e., C, N, S cycling and metal resistance). Results show that the variations of geochemical parameters substantially shaped the indigenous microbial communities. Sharp environmental gradients also impacted the microbial metabolic potentials, especially for C, N, and S cycling. Although the relative abundances of carbon fixing genes did not significantly vary along the environmental gradients, the taxa for carbon fixation varied significantly in more contaminated fields versus less contaminated fields, indicating the effects of AMD contamination on the autotrophic microbial communities. AMD input also influenced the N cycling, especially for nitrogen fixation and dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA). In addition, ex situ experiments were undertaken to evaluate the effects of AMD contamination on nitrogen fixation rates. Random Forest (RF) analysis indicated that nitrate, pH, total N, TOC exhibited positive correlations with the rates of nitrogen fixation while total Fe, Fe(III), and sulfate showed negative effects. Two co-occurrence networks at taxonomic and genomic levels indicated that geochemical parameters such as pH, TOC, total N, total S, and total Fe substantially influenced the innate microbial communities and their metabolic potentials. The current study provides an understanding for microbial response to AMD contamination and lays the foundation for future potential AMD bioremediation.
AB - A unique terrace with sharp gradient of environmental conditions was selected to study the microbial response and survival strategies to the extreme environments introduced by acid mine drainage (AMD) contamination. A combination of geochemical analyses, metagenomic sequencing, ex-situ microcosm setups, and statistical analyses were used to investigate the environment-microbe interactions. The microbial communities and metabolic potentials along the terrace were studied by focusing on the genes associated with important biogeochemical processes (i.e., C, N, S cycling and metal resistance). Results show that the variations of geochemical parameters substantially shaped the indigenous microbial communities. Sharp environmental gradients also impacted the microbial metabolic potentials, especially for C, N, and S cycling. Although the relative abundances of carbon fixing genes did not significantly vary along the environmental gradients, the taxa for carbon fixation varied significantly in more contaminated fields versus less contaminated fields, indicating the effects of AMD contamination on the autotrophic microbial communities. AMD input also influenced the N cycling, especially for nitrogen fixation and dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA). In addition, ex situ experiments were undertaken to evaluate the effects of AMD contamination on nitrogen fixation rates. Random Forest (RF) analysis indicated that nitrate, pH, total N, TOC exhibited positive correlations with the rates of nitrogen fixation while total Fe, Fe(III), and sulfate showed negative effects. Two co-occurrence networks at taxonomic and genomic levels indicated that geochemical parameters such as pH, TOC, total N, total S, and total Fe substantially influenced the innate microbial communities and their metabolic potentials. The current study provides an understanding for microbial response to AMD contamination and lays the foundation for future potential AMD bioremediation.
KW - Co-occurrence network
KW - DNRA
KW - Nitrogen fixation
KW - Random Forest
KW - Terrace
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85080064238&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85080064238&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.envint.2020.105601
DO - 10.1016/j.envint.2020.105601
M3 - Article
C2 - 32120058
AN - SCOPUS:85080064238
SN - 0160-4120
VL - 138
JO - Environment international
JF - Environment international
M1 - 105601
ER -