Linking ecology and systematics of acidobacteria: Distinct habitat preferences of the Acidobacteriia and Blastocatellia in tundra soils

Abstract

The Acidobacteria is one of the major bacterial phyla in soils and peatlands. The currently explored diversity within this phylum is assigned to 15 class-level units, five of which contain described members. The ecologically relevant traits of acidobacteria from different classes remain poorly understood. Here, we compared the patterns of acidobacterial diversity in sandy soils of tundra, along a gradient of increasing vegetation-unfixed aeolian sand, semifixed surfaces with mosses and lichens, and mature soil under fully developed plant cover. The Acidobacteria-affiliated 16S rRNA gene sequences retrieved from these soils comprised 11 to 33% of total bacterial reads and belonged mostly to members of the classes Acidobacteriia and Blastocatellia, which displayed opposite habitat preferences. The relative abundance of the Blastocatellia was maximal in unfixed sands and declined in soils of vegetated plots, showing positive correlation with soil pH and negative correlation with carbon and nitrogen availability. An opposite tendency was characteristic for the Acidobacteriia. Most Blastocatellia-affiliated reads belonged to as-yet-undescribed members of the family Arenimicrobiaceae, which appears to be characteristic for dry, depleted in organic matter soil habitats. The pool of Acidobacteriia-affiliated sequences, apart from Acidobacteriaceaeand Bryobacteraceae-related reads, had a large proportion of sequences from as-yet-undescribed families, which seem to specialize in degrading plant-derived organic matter. This analysis reveals sandy soils of tundra as a source of novel acidobacterial diversity and provides an insight into the ecological preferences of different taxonomic groups within this phylum. OPEN ACCESSCitation: Ivanova AA, Zhelezova AD, Chernov TI, Dedysh SN (2020) Linking ecology and systematics of acidobacteria: Distinct habitat preferences of the Acidobacteriia and Blastocatellia in tundra soils. PLoS ONE 15(3): e0230157.

Soil Bacterial Diversity Is Positively Correlated with Decomposition Rates during Early Phases of Maize Litter Decomposition

“…A high share of Acidobacteria has been observed in agricultural soils [ 77 , 78 , 79 ]. They are known as a good competitor in oligotrophic environments [ 80 , 81 ] and able to decompose plant polysaccharides [ 82 , 83 ]. The abundance of Acidobacteria subgroup 6 was especially reported to be positively correlated with soil nutrient concentrations (N and P).…”

Distribution patterns of Acidobacteriota in different fynbos soils

“…The highest relative abundance of this SD was observed in the Jonkershoek samples, which had significantly higher nutrient availability ( Table 1 ). Previously, SD2 has for the most part only been reported in colder subarctic soils and currently contain no cultured representatives [ 22 , 40 , 41 ]. Their reported presence within the fynbos soils, where temperatures can rise well above 30°C during the dry, warm summers [ 42 ], indicate that they are capable of tolerating higher temperatures than the cooler subarctic soils.…”

“…A sudden change in osmotic potential may also lead to cell lysis, resulting in the release of intracellular solutes that are now available [ 46 , 48 ]. Ivanova et al [ 22 ], have also reported on the positive correlation of the SD2 relative abundance with soil carbon and nitrogen [ 22 ]. In this study, soil samples were collected in the early spring period after abundant rainfall during the wet, winter season in 2019.…”

“…Several studies have indicated a stronger phylogenetic clustering of the Acidobacteriota as the pH decreases from neutrality [ 18 – 20 ]. However, not all Acidobacteriota are acidophilic, and the relative abundance of certain subdivisions, or even taxa within the same subdivision, could have a positive correlation with soil pH [ 20 – 22 ]. Other environmental factors could also be related to shifts in acidobacterial community compositions, such as soil organic carbon, phosphorus, and calcium [ 21 , 23 – 25 ].…”

Microbiomes of different ages in Rendzic Leptosols in the Crimean Peninsula

“…Soil chronosequences form at the terraces of reservoirs, on the dunes, under the barrows and the quarry dumps ( Gennadiev, 1990 ). Series of coastal bars in Lake Ladoga (Russia), formed by a gradual lowering of the water level showed that in the process of pedogenesis, bulk soil is divided into horizons, and microbiome composition is divided according to these horizons ( Ivanova et al., 2020a ). Other objects used to evaluate pedogenesis are soils on reclaimed mining heaps ( Anderson, 1977 ; Frouz, 2014 ; Sokolov et al, 2015 ).…”