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- Broman, Elias, 1985-, et al.
(author)
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Long-Term Pollution Does Not Inhibit Denitrification and DNRA by Adapted Benthic Microbial Communities
- 2023
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In: Microbial Ecology. - : Elsevier. - 0095-3628 .- 1432-184X. ; 86, s. 2357-2372
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Denitrification in sediments is a key microbial process that removes excess fixed nitrogen, while dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA) converts nitrate to ammonium. Although microorganisms are responsible for essential nitrogen (N) cycling, it is not yet fully understood how these microbially mediated processes respond to toxic hydrophobic organic compounds (HOCs) and metals. In this study, we sampled long-term polluted sediment from the outer harbor of Oskarshamn (Baltic Sea), measured denitrification and DNRA rates, and analyzed taxonomic structure and N-cycling genes of microbial communities using metagenomics. Results showed that denitrification and DNRA rates were within the range of a national reference site and other unpolluted sites in the Baltic Sea, indicating that long-term pollution did not significantly affect these processes. Furthermore, our results indicate an adaptation to metal pollution by the N-cycling microbial community. These findings suggest that denitrification and DNRA rates are affected more by eutrophication and organic enrichment than by historic pollution of metals and organic contaminants.
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- Abdelgadir, Mohanad, et al.
(author)
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Distribution of denitrifiers predicted by correlative niche modeling of changing environmental conditions and future climatic scenarios across the Baltic Sea
- 2023
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In: Ecological Informatics. - : Elsevier. - 1574-9541 .- 1878-0512. ; 78
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Denitrifying microbial communities provide an important ecosystem function in aquatic systems. Yet, knowledge on predictive and modeling of these complex and changing communities is limited. The emergently challenging question of how the geographical distribution of denitrifiers responds to ongoing and future environmental change is not yet fully understood. In our study we use metadata-based correlative niche modeling to analyze the geographical distribution of selected putative denitrifiers in the genus Sphingomonas, Mycoplana, Shewanella, and Alteromonas at different predicted environmental conditions and future climatic scenarios across the Baltic Sea. Using the predictive power of an ensemble modeling approach and eight different machine-learning algorithms, habitat suitability and the distribution of the selected denitrifiers were evaluated using geophysical and bioclimatic variables, benthic conditions, and four Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) trajectories of future global warming scenarios. All algorithms provided successful prediction capabilities both for variable importance, and for habitat suitability with Area Under the Curve (AUC) values between 0.89 and 1.00. Model findings revealed that salinity and nitrate concentrations significantly explained the variation in distribution of the selected denitrifiers. Rising temperatures of 0.8 to 1.8 °C at future RCP60–2050 trajectories are predicted to diminish or eliminate the bioclimatic suitable habitats for denitrifier distributions across the Baltic Sea. Multi-collated terrestrial and marine environmental variables contributed to the successful prediction of denitrifier distributions within the study area. The correlative niche modeling approach with high AUC values presented in the study allowed for accurate projections of the future distributions of the selected denitrifiers. The modeling approach can be used to improve our understanding of how ongoing and predicted future environmental changes may affect habitat suitability for organisms with denitrification capacity across the Baltic Sea.
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- Albert, Séréna, et al.
(author)
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Phytoplankton settling quality has a subtle but significant effect on sediment microeukaryotic and bacterial communities
- 2021
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In: Scientific Reports. - : Springer Nature. - 2045-2322. ; 11:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- In coastal aphotic sediments, organic matter (OM) input from phytoplankton is the primary food resource for benthic organisms. Current observations from temperate ecosystems like the Baltic Sea report a decline in spring bloom diatoms, while summer cyanobacteria blooms are becoming more frequent and intense. These climate-driven changes in phytoplankton communities may in turn have important consequences for benthic biodiversity and ecosystem functions, but such questions are not yet sufficiently explored experimentally. Here, in a 4-week experiment, we investigated the response of microeukaryotic and bacterial communities to different types of OM inputs comprising five ratios of two common phytoplankton species in the Baltic Sea, the diatom Skeletonema marinoi and filamentous cyanobacterium Nodularia spumigena. Metabarcoding analyses on 16S and 18S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) at the experiment termination revealed subtle but significant changes in diversity and community composition of microeukaryotes in response to settling OM quality. Sediment bacteria were less affected, although we observed a clear effect on denitrification gene expression (nirS and nosZ), which was positively correlated with increasing proportions of cyanobacteria. Altogether, these results suggest that future changes in OM input to the seafloor may have important effects on both the composition and function of microbenthic communities.
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- Aliyu, Habibu, et al.
(author)
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Metagenomic Analysis of Low-Temperature Environments
- 2017
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In: Psychrophiles. - Cham : Springer. - 9783319570563 ; , s. 389-421
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Book chapter (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Earth’s permanently cold biosphere is known to harbour abundant microbial biomass and represents a rich resource for the discovery of novel cold-adapted microorganisms, many of which form part of the ‘microbial dark matter’ which cannot be analysed using traditional culture-dependent approaches. The recent development of metagenomics and related multi-omics strategies has provided a means by which entire microbial communities can be studied directly, without the prerequisite of culturing. The advancement of the ‘omic’ methods is directly linked to recent progress in high-throughput sequencing, robust data processing capabilities and the application of cutting-edge analytical tools for high-throughput detection of biomolecules. The combined application of these tools and strategies has provided an unprecedented access to the structure and potential function of microbial communities in cold environments, providing increasingly comprehensive insights into the taxonomic richness and functional capacity of the indigenous microorganisms. Applications of ‘omic’ strategies have enhanced our understanding of psychrophilic adaptation mechanisms, revealing the versatility and adaptability of life in the ‘cryosphere’. In addition to the predicted roles of psychrophiles in biogeochemical cycling, recent multi-omic studies have further emphasised the importance of the ‘cryosphere’ in influencing global atmospheric conditions. Finally, metagenomic bioprospecting of cold environments has yielded a variety of novel bioactive molecules including novel ‘psychrozymes’, with a wide range of potential industrial and biotechnological applications. Here, we have provided an overview of recent developments in metagenomic technologies and their application in the study of the cold biosphere.
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- Berini, Francesca, et al.
(author)
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Production and characterization of a novel antifungal chitinase identified by functional screening of a suppressive-soil metagenome
- 2017
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In: Microbial Cell Factories. - : BioMed Central. - 1475-2859. ; 16:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- BACKGROUND: Through functional screening of a fosmid library, generated from a phytopathogen-suppressive soil metagenome, the novel antifungal chitinase-named Chi18H8 and belonging to family 18 glycosyl hydrolases-was previously discovered. The initial extremely low yield of Chi18H8 recombinant production and purification from Escherichia coli cells (21 μg/g cell) limited its characterization, thus preventing further investigation on its biotechnological potential.RESULTS: We report on how we succeeded in producing hundreds of milligrams of pure and biologically active Chi18H8 by developing and scaling up to a high-yielding, 30 L bioreactor process, based on a novel method of mild solubilization of E. coli inclusion bodies in lactic acid aqueous solution, coupled with a single step purification by hydrophobic interaction chromatography. Chi18H8 was characterized as a Ca(2+)-dependent mesophilic chitobiosidase, active on chitin substrates at acidic pHs and possessing interesting features, such as solvent tolerance, long-term stability in acidic environment and antifungal activity against the phytopathogens Fusarium graminearum and Rhizoctonia solani. Additionally, Chi18H8 was found to operate according to a non-processive endomode of action on a water-soluble chitin-like substrate.CONCLUSIONS: Expression screening of a metagenomic library may allow access to the functional diversity of uncultivable microbiota and to the discovery of novel enzymes useful for biotechnological applications. A persisting bottleneck, however, is the lack of methods for large scale production of metagenome-sourced enzymes from genes of unknown origin in the commonly used microbial hosts. To our knowledge, this is the first report on a novel metagenome-sourced enzyme produced in hundreds-of-milligram amount by recovering the protein in the biologically active form from recombinant E. coli inclusion bodies.
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- Broman, Elias, et al.
(author)
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Denitrification responses to increasing cadmium exposure in Baltic Sea sediments
- 2019
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In: Aquatic Toxicology. - : Elsevier. - 0166-445X .- 1879-1514. ; 217
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Benthic ecosystems have come under intense pressure, due to eutrophication-driven oxygen decline and industrial metal contamination. One of the most toxic metals is Cadmium (Cd), which is lethal to many aquatic organisms already at low concentrations. Denitrification by facultative anaerobic microorganisms is an essential process to transform, but also to remove, excess nitrate in eutrophied systems. Cd has been shown to decrease denitrification and sequester free sulfide, which is available when oxygen is scarce and generally inhibits complete denitrification (i.e. N2O to N2). In polluted sediments, an interaction between oxygen and Cd may influence denitrification and this relationship has not been studied. For example, in the Baltic Sea some sediments are double exposed to both Cd and hypoxia. In this study, we examined how the double exposure of Cd and fluctuations in oxygen affects denitrification in Baltic Sea sediment. Results show that oxygen largely regulated N2O and N2 production after 21 days of exposure to Cd (ranging from 0 to 500 μg/L, 5 different treatments, measured by the isotope pairing technique (IPT)). In the high Cd treatment (500 μg/L) the variation in N2 production increased compared to the other treatments. Increases in N2 production are suggested to be an effect of 1) enhanced nitrification that increases NO3 − availability thus stimulating denitrification, and 2) Cd successfully sequestrating sulfide (yielding CdS), which allows for full denitrification to N2. The in situ field sediment contained initially high Cd concentrations in the pore water (∼10 μg/L) and microbial communities might already have been adapted to metal stress, making the effect of low Cd levels negligible. Here we show that high levels of cadmium pollution might increase N2 production and influence nitrogen cycling in marine sediments. © 2019 The Authors
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