Atmospheric Deposition-Carried Zn and Cd from a Zinc Smelter and Their Effects on Soil Microflora as Revealed by 16S rDNA.

Feng Shen,Yanxia Li,Ronghua Li,Mukesh Kumar Awasthi,Amjad Ali,Quan Wang,Min Zhang,Zengqiang Zhang

doi:10.1038/srep39148

Feng Shen, Yanxia Li + Show 6 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1038/srep39148

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Abstract

In this study, we investigated the influence of heavy metals (HM) on total soil bacterial population and its diversity pattern from 10 km distance of a Zinc smelter in Feng County, Qinling Mountain, China. We characterized and identified the bacterial community in a HM polluted soil using 16S rDNA technology. Out results indicated that the maximum soil HM concentration and the minimum bacterial population were observed in S2 soil, whereas bacterial diversity raised with the sampling distance increased. The bacterial communities were dominated by the phyla Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria and Actinobacteria in cornfield soils, except Fimicutes phylum which dominated in hilly area soil. The soil CEC, humic acid (HA)/fulvic acid (FA) and microbial OTUs increased with the sampling distance increased. Shewanella, Halomonas and Escherichia genera were highly tolerant to HM stress in both cultivated and non-cultivated soil. Finally, we found a consistent correlation of bacterial diversity with total HM and SOM along the sampling distance surrounding the zinc smelter, which could provide a new insight into the bacterial community-assisted and phytoremediation of HM contaminated soils.

Highlights

All of these traditional methods may provide an inaccurate soil microbial profile because many species might be not detected
The bacterial diversity of the heavy metals (HM) contaminated soil was highly variable because it depended on the soil chemistry and environmental factors such as pH and moisture, which indicted a direct correlation between the soil properties and geographic variables and the soil bacterial diversity and community
The results of our study suggested that the soil texture and the soil organic matter (SOM) content played an important role in the variation of bacterial diversity in all five soil samples, as shown in Table 1 and Fig. 3a,b

Summary

Introduction

All of these traditional methods may provide an inaccurate soil microbial profile because many species might be not detected. Studies that targeted arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) variability in HM mines in a lead and zinc region have reported Sophora viciifolia rhizospheric microbiota interactions with the HM contaminated soil[21] and the role of glomalin-related soil protein (GRSP) in HM sequestration[15]. These experiments provided indirect information on the carrier phases and influence of HM on the overall microbial diversity and the structure of the soil bacterial community. Our study encompassed the mobility of pollutants and biogeochemical parameters

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Results

Conclusion