Microorganisms . 2019 Sep 16;7(9):357. doi: 10.3390/microorganisms7090357.
Abstract
Heavy metal pollution is a serious environmental problem as it adversely affects crop production and human activity. In addition, the microbial community structure and composition are altered in heavy-metal-contaminated soils. In this study, using full-length 16S rRNA gene sequences obtained by a PacBio RS II system, we determined the microbial diversity and community structure in heavy-metal-contaminated soil. Furthermore, we investigated the microbial distribution, inferred their putative functional traits, and analyzed the environmental effects on the microbial compositions. The soil samples selected in this study were heavily and continuously contaminated with various heavy metals due to closed mines. We found that certain microorganisms (e.g., sulfur or iron oxidizers) play an important role in the biogeochemical cycle. Using phylogenetic investigation of communities by reconstruction of unobserved states (PICRUSt) analysis, we predicted Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) functional categories from abundances of microbial communities and revealed a high proportion belonging to transport, energy metabolism, and xenobiotic degradation in the studied sites. In addition, through full-length analysis, Conexibacter-like sequences, commonly identified by environmental metagenomics among the rare biosphere, were detected. In addition to microbial composition, we confirmed that environmental factors, including heavy metals, affect the microbial communities. Unexpectedly, among these environmental parameters, electrical conductivity (EC) might have more importance than other factors in a community description analysis.
Keywords: 16S rRNA gene; PacBio; heavy metals; mines; soil.
多年来矿山固体废弃物堆存诱发的次生灾害不断发生,对人类生命财产安全造成了严重威胁,同时也造成了严重的环境问题——重金属污染不仅会污染水源和食物链,土壤中的微生物群落结构和组成也会发生变化。
早期,NGS技术的应用拓展了关于微生物-矿物相互作用的认识,但二代测序在属和种水平上的分辨准确性较低,检测灵敏度也较低。三代测序技术具有长读长(>10kb)的特点, 能够对稀有类群进行鉴定,极大的填补了二代测序技术在环境微生物研究领域的技术缺陷。
《Microorganisms》(IF=4.167)发表了题为“Identification of Microbial Profiles in Heavy-Metal-Contaminated Soil from Full-Length 16S rRNA Reads Sequenced by a PacBio System”的研究论文,研究针对韩国华城、大邱和奉化3个地区展开研究,采集矿山表层(2-5cm)和深层(60-75cm)土壤,测定了重金属污染的矿山土壤样本的理化性质并进行了全长16s rRNA测序分析,明确了重金属污染土壤中的微生物多样性和结构,调查了微生物的分布,以及环境因子对微生物群落的影响。
样本采集
土壤理化性质测定
全长16s 测序
提取土壤DNA,选择27F(5’-AGRGTTYGATYMTGGCTCAG-3’)和1492R(5’-RGYTACCTTGTTACGACTT-3’)作为引物,~10ng土壤DNA作为模板扩增16s rRNA全长序列,利用PacBio RS II SMRT平台进行测序;
I.矿山土壤样本的理化因子差异
理化因子测定结果表明,矿山土壤pH范围在2.8-6.9之间,表明土壤呈酸性接近中性,深层(pH 4.3±1.5)比表层土壤(pH 5.4±1.2)更偏酸性;不同深度和采样地点的土壤温度差异不大(23±3.0℃);采样地点与深度之间在其他环境因素方面存在显著差异,重金属的平均浓度(ppm)结果显示,砷(As)的浓度高于其他重金属;此外,研究还发现TN、OM和温度等环境因子在采样地点与深度之间存在显著差异。
II.微生物群落结构与功能
研究共获得122702个序列用于分析,NMDS结果表明,除DF1和BF1样本外,微生物群落明显按采样点聚集(图1),但ANOSIM结果表明,大多数分析样品之间的微生物群落组成显著不同。
图1. 土壤样本的微生物群落特征(蓝色:表层土壤;红色:深层土壤)
在门水平上,这些序列与42个门相关,变形菌门、酸杆菌门、放线菌门、绿弯菌门、拟杆菌门等8个门类丰富度最高(图2a),其中变形菌门占比最高。在属水平上,选择32个属进一步研究,并确定16个属为优势微生物(图2b),其中优势类群为Leptospirillum, Rhodoplanes, Thiobacillus, Acidithiobacillus, Sulfobacillus, Conexibacter, Candidatus, Solibacter和Rhodovastum,占所有样品细菌总数的80%。同时统计了生态位宽度(B),确定了16个属中6个普遍存在类群(B>3,Alicyclobacillus,Aquicella, Clostridium, Conexibacter, Nitrospira, Rhodanobacter)和10个栖息地特有类群(B<1.5,Gallionella, 革兰氏阳性铁氧化嗜酸菌, Halothiobacillus, Leptolyngbya, Leptospirillum, Rhodoferax, Sulfobacillus, Thioalkalivibrio, Thiobacillus,和 硫杆菌科的YNPFFP6),其中在大邱和华城样本中还发现高丰度的Rhodoplanes属,表明有可能开发出一种土壤中重金属污染的微生物指标。
通过PICRUSt分析预测了16s rRNA序列的功能,在预测的所有KEGG途径中,与“运输”相关的KEGG类别丰度最高(11.3-13.3%),其次是能量代谢(7.5%)和外源生物降解(6%)。同时发现了与氮(Nitrospira)或硫(Sulfobacillus,Desulfosporosinus)循环相关的一些序列。这一结果支持了微生物群落与环境因素之间的关系。
图2. 污染土壤样品中最丰富的八个门(a)和十六个属(b)的相对丰度
III.环境因子与微生物群落的相关性
图3. 利用Cytoscape网络可视化聚类32个属的环境相关性