Elevational Constraints on the Composition and Genomic Attributes of Microbial Communities in Antarctic Soils
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 no...
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ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:8765064 2023-05-15T13:54:22+02:00 Elevational Constraints on the Composition and Genomic Attributes of Microbial Communities in Antarctic Soils Dragone, Nicholas B. Henley, Jessica B. Holland-Moritz, Hannah Diaz, Melisa Hogg, Ian D. Lyons, W. Berry Wall, Diana H. Adams, Byron J. Fierer, Noah 2022-01-18 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8765064/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35040702 https://doi.org/10.1128/msystems.01330-21 en eng American Society for Microbiology http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8765064/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35040702 http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/msystems.01330-21 Copyright © 2022 Dragone et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) . CC-BY mSystems Research Article Text 2022 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1128/msystems.01330-21 2022-01-30T01:30:35Z 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 ... Text Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Shackleton Glacier PubMed Central (PMC) Antarctic Shackleton Shackleton Glacier ENVELOPE(-37.200,-37.200,-54.133,-54.133) The Antarctic mSystems 7 1 |
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Research Article Dragone, Nicholas B. Henley, Jessica B. Holland-Moritz, Hannah Diaz, Melisa Hogg, Ian D. Lyons, W. Berry Wall, Diana H. Adams, Byron J. Fierer, Noah Elevational Constraints on the Composition and Genomic Attributes of Microbial Communities in Antarctic Soils |
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Research Article |
description |
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 ... |
format |
Text |
author |
Dragone, Nicholas B. Henley, Jessica B. Holland-Moritz, Hannah Diaz, Melisa Hogg, Ian D. Lyons, W. Berry Wall, Diana H. Adams, Byron J. Fierer, Noah |
author_facet |
Dragone, Nicholas B. Henley, Jessica B. Holland-Moritz, Hannah Diaz, Melisa Hogg, Ian D. Lyons, W. Berry Wall, Diana H. Adams, Byron J. Fierer, Noah |
author_sort |
Dragone, Nicholas B. |
title |
Elevational Constraints on the Composition and Genomic Attributes of Microbial Communities in Antarctic Soils |
title_short |
Elevational Constraints on the Composition and Genomic Attributes of Microbial Communities in Antarctic Soils |
title_full |
Elevational Constraints on the Composition and Genomic Attributes of Microbial Communities in Antarctic Soils |
title_fullStr |
Elevational Constraints on the Composition and Genomic Attributes of Microbial Communities in Antarctic Soils |
title_full_unstemmed |
Elevational Constraints on the Composition and Genomic Attributes of Microbial Communities in Antarctic Soils |
title_sort |
elevational constraints on the composition and genomic attributes of microbial communities in antarctic soils |
publisher |
American Society for Microbiology |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8765064/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35040702 https://doi.org/10.1128/msystems.01330-21 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-37.200,-37.200,-54.133,-54.133) |
geographic |
Antarctic Shackleton Shackleton Glacier The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Shackleton Shackleton Glacier The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Shackleton Glacier |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Shackleton Glacier |
op_source |
mSystems |
op_relation |
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8765064/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35040702 http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/msystems.01330-21 |
op_rights |
Copyright © 2022 Dragone et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) . |
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CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1128/msystems.01330-21 |
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mSystems |
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7 |
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