Metagenomic insights into the microbial communities of inert and oligotrophic outdoor pier surfaces of a coastal city

Microbiome

Christopher E. Mason¹  Justin Y. Y. Lee²  Zhiyong Shen²  Marcus H. Y. Leung²  Xinzhao Tong²  Patrick K. H. Lee³ 

[1] Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA;The HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Alsaud Institute for Computational Biomedicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA;The WorldQuant Initiative for Quantitative Prediction, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA;The Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA;School of Energy and Environment, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China;School of Energy and Environment, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China;State Key Laboratory of Marine Pollution, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China;

关键词: Outdoor surfaces;    Piers;    Metagenomic sequencing;    Metagenome-assembled genomes;    Functional traits;    Secondary biosynthetic capacity;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s40168-021-01166-y

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundStudies of the microbiomes on surfaces in built environment have largely focused on indoor spaces, while outdoor spaces have received far less attention. Piers are engineered infrastructures commonly found in coastal areas, and due to their unique locations at the interface between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, pier surfaces are likely to harbor interesting microbiology. In this study, the microbiomes on the metal and concrete surfaces at nine piers located along the coastline of Hong Kong were investigated by metagenomic sequencing. The roles played by different physical attributes and environmental factors in shaping the taxonomic composition and functional traits of the pier surface microbiomes were determined. Metagenome-assembled genomes were reconstructed and their putative biosynthetic gene clusters were characterized in detail.ResultsSurface material was found to be the strongest factor in structuring the taxonomic and functional compositions of the pier surface microbiomes. Corrosion-related bacteria were significantly enriched on metal surfaces, consistent with the pitting corrosion observed. The differential enrichment of taxa mediating biodegradation suggests differences between the metal and concrete surfaces in terms of specific xenobiotics being potentially degraded. Genome-centric analysis detected the presence of many novel species, with the majority of them belonging to the phylum Proteobacteria. Genomic characterization showed that the potential metabolic functions and secondary biosynthetic capacity were largely correlated with taxonomy, rather than surface attributes and geography.ConclusionsPier surfaces are a rich reservoir of abundant novel bacterial species. Members of the surface microbial communities use different mechanisms to counter the stresses under oligotrophic conditions. A better understanding of the outdoor surface microbiomes located in different environments should enhance the ability to maintain outdoor surfaces of infrastructures.Aqu7jA9CrPbjVmub3JrQBiVideo Abstract

【 授权许可】

CC BY