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Title: Microbial Community Structure and Functional Potential Along a Hypersaline Gradient

Abstract

Salinity is one of the strongest environmental drivers of microbial evolution and community composition. Here we aimed to determine the impact of salt concentrations (2.5, 7.5, and 33.2%) on the microbial community structure of reclaimed saltern ponds near San Francisco, California, and to discover prospective enzymes with potential biotechnological applications. Community compositions were determined by 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing revealing both higher richness and evenness in the pond sediments compared to the water columns. Co-occurrence network analysis additionally uncovered the presence of microbial seed bank communities, potentially primed to respond to rapid changes in salinity. In addition, functional annotation of shotgun metagenomic DNA showed different capabilities if the microbial communities at different salinities for methanogenesis, amino acid metabolism, and carbohydrate-active enzymes. There was an overall shift with increasing salinity in the functional potential for starch degradation, and a decrease in degradation of cellulose and other oligosaccharides. Further, many carbohydrate-active enzymes identified have acidic isoelectric points that have potential biotechnological applications, including deconstruction of biofuel feedstocks under high ionic conditions. Metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) of individual halotolerant and halophilic microbes were binned revealing a variety of carbohydrate-degrading potential of individual pond inhabitants.

Authors:
; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1459672
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1461649; OSTI ID: 1471857
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-126820
Journal ID: ISSN 1664-302X; 1492
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-05CH11231; AC05-76RL01830; AC05-00OR22725
Resource Type:
Published Article
Journal Name:
Frontiers in Microbiology
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: Frontiers in Microbiology Journal Volume: 9; Journal ID: ISSN 1664-302X
Publisher:
Frontiers Research Foundation
Country of Publication:
Switzerland
Language:
English
Subject:
59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES; microbial communities; halophiles; biofuels; metagenomes; 16S rRNA

Citation Formats

Kimbrel, Jeffrey A., Ballor, Nicholas, Wu, Yu-Wei, David, Maude M., Hazen, Terry C., Simmons, Blake A., Singer, Steven W., and Jansson, Janet K. Microbial Community Structure and Functional Potential Along a Hypersaline Gradient. Switzerland: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.3389/fmicb.2018.01492.
Kimbrel, Jeffrey A., Ballor, Nicholas, Wu, Yu-Wei, David, Maude M., Hazen, Terry C., Simmons, Blake A., Singer, Steven W., & Jansson, Janet K. Microbial Community Structure and Functional Potential Along a Hypersaline Gradient. Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2018.01492
Kimbrel, Jeffrey A., Ballor, Nicholas, Wu, Yu-Wei, David, Maude M., Hazen, Terry C., Simmons, Blake A., Singer, Steven W., and Jansson, Janet K. Tue . "Microbial Community Structure and Functional Potential Along a Hypersaline Gradient". Switzerland. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2018.01492.
@article{osti_1459672,
title = {Microbial Community Structure and Functional Potential Along a Hypersaline Gradient},
author = {Kimbrel, Jeffrey A. and Ballor, Nicholas and Wu, Yu-Wei and David, Maude M. and Hazen, Terry C. and Simmons, Blake A. and Singer, Steven W. and Jansson, Janet K.},
abstractNote = {Salinity is one of the strongest environmental drivers of microbial evolution and community composition. Here we aimed to determine the impact of salt concentrations (2.5, 7.5, and 33.2%) on the microbial community structure of reclaimed saltern ponds near San Francisco, California, and to discover prospective enzymes with potential biotechnological applications. Community compositions were determined by 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing revealing both higher richness and evenness in the pond sediments compared to the water columns. Co-occurrence network analysis additionally uncovered the presence of microbial seed bank communities, potentially primed to respond to rapid changes in salinity. In addition, functional annotation of shotgun metagenomic DNA showed different capabilities if the microbial communities at different salinities for methanogenesis, amino acid metabolism, and carbohydrate-active enzymes. There was an overall shift with increasing salinity in the functional potential for starch degradation, and a decrease in degradation of cellulose and other oligosaccharides. Further, many carbohydrate-active enzymes identified have acidic isoelectric points that have potential biotechnological applications, including deconstruction of biofuel feedstocks under high ionic conditions. Metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) of individual halotolerant and halophilic microbes were binned revealing a variety of carbohydrate-degrading potential of individual pond inhabitants.},
doi = {10.3389/fmicb.2018.01492},
journal = {Frontiers in Microbiology},
number = ,
volume = 9,
place = {Switzerland},
year = {Tue Jul 10 00:00:00 EDT 2018},
month = {Tue Jul 10 00:00:00 EDT 2018}
}

Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2018.01492

Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 27 works
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Figures / Tables:

Table 1 Table 1: Chemical analysis of pond water and sediments.

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