Project description:Anthropogenic activities have dramatically increased the inputs of reactive nitrogen (N) into terrestrial ecosystems, with potentially important effects on the soil microbial community and consequently soil C and N dynamics. Our analysis of microbial communities in soils subjected to 14 years of 7 g N m-2 year-1 Ca(NO3)2 amendment in a Californian grassland showed that the taxonomic composition of bacterial communities, examined by 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, was significantly altered by nitrate amendment, supporting the hypothesis that N amendment- induced increased nutrient availability, yielded more fast-growing bacterial taxa while reduced slow-growing bacterial taxa. Nitrate amendment significantly increased genes associated with labile C degradation (e.g. amyA and xylA) but had no effect or decreased the relative abundances of genes associated with degradation of more recalcitrant C (e.g. mannanase and chitinase), as shown by data from GeoChip targeting a wide variety of functional genes. The abundances of most N cycling genes remained unchanged or decreased except for increases in both the nifH gene (associated with N fixation), and the amoA gene (associated with nitrification) concurrent with increases of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria. Based on those observations, we propose a conceptual model to illustrate how changes of functional microbial communities may correspond to soil C and N accumulation.
Project description:Marine sponges represent one of the few eukaryotic groups that ubiquitously harbor symbiotic members of the Thaumarchaeota, which are important chemoautotrophic ammonia-oxidizers in many environments. However in most studies, direct demonstration of ammonia-oxidation by these archaea within sponges is lacking, and little is known about sponge-specific adaptations of archaeal ammonia oxidizers (AOA). In this study, we characterized the thaumarchaeal symbiont of the marine sponge Ianthella basta using metaproteogenomics, fluorescence in situ hybridization, qPCR and direct isotope-based functional assays. We demonstrate that the I. basta symbiont is not closely related to other genomically sequenced sponge AOA and is a member of a new genus. “Candidatus Nitrosospongia bastadiensis” is an abundant symbiont that is solely responsible for nitrite formation from ammonia in I. basta that surprisingly does not harbor nitrite-oxidizing microbes. Consistently, Ca N. bastadiensis encodes and expresses the genetic repertoire required for chemolithoautotrophic ammonia oxidation. Furthermore, we show that this AOA is equipped with an expanded set of extracellular subtilisin-like proteases, a metalloprotease unique among archaea, as well as a putative branched-chain amino acid ABC transporter. This repertoire is strongly indicative of a mixotrophic lifestyle and is (with slight variations) also found in other sponge-associated, but not in free-living AOA. We predict that this feature as well as an expanded and unique set of secreted serpins (protease inhibitors), a unique array of eukaryotic-like proteins, and a DNA-phosporothioation system likely involved in defense against foreign DNA, represent important adaptations of AOA to life within these ancient filter-feeding animals.
Project description:This research focuses on changes in the microbial communities of tropical soils during aerobic to anaerobic transitions following wetting. Of particular interest is the natural cycling of the soil microbiome through aerobic and anaerobic metabolism over relative short time periods.
The work (proposal:https://doi.org/10.46936/10.25585/60000880) conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute (https://ror.org/04xm1d337), a DOE Office of Science User Facility, is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy operated under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231.
Project description:The spread of antibiotic resistance genes (ARG) into agricultural soils, products, and foods severely limits the use of organic fertilizers in agriculture. In this study, experimental land plots were fertilized, sown, and harvested for two consecutive agricultural cycles using either mineral or three types of organic fertilizers: sewage sludge, pig slurry, or composted organic fraction of municipal solid waste. The analysis of the relative abundances of more than 200,000 ASV (Amplicon Sequence Variants) allowed the identification of a small, but significant (<10%) overlap between soil and fertilizer microbiomes, particularly in soils sampled the same day of the harvest (post-harvest soils). Loads of clinically relevant ARG were significantly higher (up to 100 fold) in fertilized soils relative to the initial soil. The highest increases corresponded to post-harvest soils treated with organic fertilizers, and they correlated with the extend of the contribution of fertilizers to the soil microbiome. Edible products (lettuce and radish) showed low, but measurable loads of ARG (sul1 for lettuces and radish, tetM for lettuces). These loads were minimal in mineral fertilized soils, and strongly dependent on the type of fertilizer. We concluded that at least part of the observed increase on ARG loads in soils and foodstuffs were actual contributions from the fertilizer microbiomes. Thus, we propose that adequate waste management and good pharmacological and veterinarian practices may significantly reduce the potential health risk posed by the presence of ARG in agricultural soils and plant products.
Project description:Nitrification, the oxidation of ammonia via nitrite to nitrate, has always been considered to be a two-step process catalysed by chemolithoautotrophic microorganisms oxidizing either ammonia or nitrite. No known nitrifier carries out both steps, although complete nitrification should be energetically advantageous. This functional separation has puzzled microbiologists for a century. Here we report on the discovery and cultivation of a completely nitrifying bacterium from the genus Nitrospira, a globally distributed group of nitrite oxidizers. The genome of this chemolithoautotrophic organism encodes the pathways both for ammonia and nitrite oxidation, which are concomitantly activated during growth by ammonia oxidation to nitrate. Genes affiliated with the phylogenetically distinct ammonia monooxygenase and hydroxylamine dehydrogenase genes of Nitrospira are present in many environments and were retrieved on Nitrospira contigs in new metagenomes from engineered systems. These findings fundamentally change our picture of nitrification and point to completely nitrifying Nitrospira as key components of nitrogen-cycling microbial communities.
Project description:The ecophysiology of complete ammonia oxidizing Nitrospira (CMX) and their widespread occurrence in groundwater suggests that CMX bacteria have a competitive advantage over ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) and archaea (AOA) in these environments. However, the relevance of their activity from the ecosystem-level process perspective has remained unclear. We investigated oligotrophic carbonate rock aquifers as a model system to assess the contribution of CMX, AOA and AOB to nitrification and to identify the environmental drivers of their niche differentiation at different levels of ammonium and oxygen. CMX accounted for up to 95% of the ammonia oxidizer communities. Nitrification rates were positively correlated to CMX clade A-associated phylotypes and AOB affiliated with Nitrosomonas ureae. Surprisingly, short-term incubations amended with the nitrification inhibitors allylthiourea and chlorate suggested that AOB contributed more than 90% to overall ammonia oxidation, while metaproteomics analysis confirmed an active role of CMX in both ammonia and nitrite oxidation. Ecophysiological niche differentiation of CMX clades A and B, AOA and AOB was linked to their requirements for ammonium, oxygen tolerance, and metabolic versatility. Our results demonstrate that despite numerical predominance of CMX, the first step of nitrification in oligotrophic groundwater is primarily governed by AOB. Higher growth yields at lower NH4+ turnover rates and energy derived from nitrite oxidation most likely enable CMX to maintain consistently high populations. Activity measurements combined with differential inhibition allowed a refined understanding of ammonia oxidizer coexistence, competition and cooperation beyond the insights from molecular data alone.