Making room for gut prophages in human health.

Current Australian legislation permits the beneficial application of grease trap waste (GTW) to agricultural soil, viewing it as a beneficial source of organic matter and soil conditioner containing no/low amounts of metals or pathogenic organisms. However, little is known about the influence of GTW on soil bacterial community. A field experiment was established at Menangle in south western Sydney in Australia to quantitatively assess the impacts of different types (GTW CO and GTW CL) and amounts of GTW application on the soil bacterial community and diversity. Furthermore, a municipal solid waste (MSW) compost was simultaneously examined to compare against the other organic wastes. Knowledge about the shifts in microbial community structure and diversity following the applications of organic wastes could help to evaluate the ecological consequences on the soil and thus to develop sound regulatory guidelines for the beneficial reuse of organic wastes in agricultural lands. Soil samples were collected from recycled organics plots treated with different types and quantity of organic wastes. The field experimental treatments included control (CK, without application of any organic wastes), low amount of GTW CO (COL), GTW CL (CLL), and MSW (ML), and high amounts of GTW CO (COH), GTW CL (CLH), and MSW compost (MH). Microbial DNA was extracted from soil samples and the 16S rRNA genes were polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-amplified. The PCR products were analyzed by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE), cloning, and sequencing. The bacterial community structures and diversity were assessed using the DGGE profiles and clone libraries constructed from the excised DGGE bands. DGGE-based analyses showed that application of the GTW CO, regardless of the amount applied, had significant negative effects on soil bacterial genotypic diversity and community structure compared with the control, while the applications of other organic wastes including the GTW CL and MSW had no clear effects. The effects of the rate of organic waste application on soil bacterial community characteristics varied with the types of organic wastes applied. Sequence-based analyses of 126 clones indicated that Proteobacteria (53.2%) was the dominant taxa at the experimental site, followed by Actinobacteria (9.5%), Bacteroidetes (7.9%), Firmicutes (7.9%), Gemmatimonadetes (5.6%), Chloroflexi (2.4%), Acidobacteria (1.6%) and the unclassified group (11.9%). In the COH treatment, Acidobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Gemmatimonadetes were not detected; the percentages of Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, and Actinobacteria in the COH treatment were significantly different from those in CK. There is a significant positive correlation (r = 0.71, p = 0.002) between the C/N ratio of organic wastes and the bacterial genotypic communities. Both the type and the amount of GTW applied affected soil bacterial genotypic diversity and community structure. The different effects of various types of organic wastes on soil bacterial characteristics may be predicted by the differences in specific properties of organic wastes such as C/N ratio, as evidenced by the strong and significant positive relationship between the bacterial community distance and the environmental distance of C/N ratio. This also indicates that the C/N ratio of GTW applied can be a major driver for the shift in the soil bacterial community. Our results revealed that the effects of organic wastes on soil bacterial communities varied with the types of organic wastes, and depending on the rate of application. Application of the GTW CO led to significant shifts in soil bacterial community diversity and structure. The effects of different types of organic wastes on the soil bacterial characteristics can be predicted by the differences of specific properties of organic wastes, such as the C/N ratio. Sequence-based analyses of 126 clones indicated that Proteobacteria was the dominant taxa at the experimental site. Our results have important implications for developing sound regulatory guidelines for the beneficial reuse of organic wastes, indicating that GTW CO and similar organic waste treatments may not be suitable for application in agricultural soils due to its significant negative effect on soil bacterial community.

Alkaline lakes are a special aquatic ecosystem that act as important water and alkali resource in the arid-semiarid regions. The primary aim of the study is to explore how environmental factors affect community diversity and structure, and to find whether there are key microbes that can indicate changes in environmental factors in alkaline lakes. Therefore, four sediment samples (S1, S2, S3, and S4) were collected from Hamatai Lake which is an important alkali resource in Ordos’ desert plateau of Inner Mongolia. Samples were collected along the salinity and alkalinity gradients and bacterial community compositions were investigated by Illumina Miseq sequencing. The results revealed that the diversity and richness of bacterial community decreased with increasing alkalinity (pH) and salinity, and bacterial community structure was obviously different for the relatively light alkaline and hyposaline samples (LAHO; pH < 8.5; salinity < 20‰) and high alkaline and hypersaline samples (HAHR; pH > 8.5; salinity > 20‰). Firmicutes, Proteobacteria and Bacteriodetes were observed to be the dominant phyla. Furthermore, Acidobacteria, Actinobacteria, and low salt-tolerant alkaliphilic nitrifying taxa were mainly distributed in S1 with LAHO characteristic. Firmicutes, Clostridia, Gammaproteobacteria, salt-tolerant alkaliphilic denitrifying taxa, haloalkaliphilic sulfur cycling taxa were mainly distributed in S2, S3 and S4, and were well adapted to haloalkaline conditions. Correlation analysis revealed that the community diversity (operational taxonomic unit numbers and/or Shannon index) and richness (Chao1) were significantly positively correlated with ammonium nitrogen (r = 0.654, p < 0.05; r = 0.680, p < 0.05) and negatively correlated with pH (r = −0.924, p < 0.01; r = −0.800, p < 0.01; r = −0.933, p < 0.01) and salinity (r = −0.615, p < 0.05; r = −0.647, p < 0.05). A redundancy analysis and variation partitioning analysis revealed that pH (explanation degrees of 53.5%, pseudo-F = 11.5, p < 0.01), TOC/TN (24.8%, pseudo-F = 10.3, p < 0.05) and salinity (9.2%, pseudo-F = 9.5, p < 0.05) were the most significant factors that caused the variations in bacterial community structure. The results suggested that alkalinity, nutrient salt and salinity jointly affect bacterial diversity and community structure, in which one taxon (Acidobacteria), six taxa (Cyanobacteria, Nitrosomonadaceae, Nitrospira, Bacillus, Lactococcus and Halomonas) and five taxa (Desulfonatronobacter, Dethiobacter, Desulfurivibrio, Thioalkalivibrio and Halorhodospira) are related to carbon, nitrogen and sulfur cycles, respectively. Classes Clostridia and Gammaproteobacteria might indicate changes of saline-alkali conditions in the sediments of alkaline lakes in desert plateau.

This study examined the effect of dissolved organic matter (DOM) on ectoenzymatic activity, bacterial growth and community structure in the Hudson River. Our main approach was to mix bacterial communities and water from various locations in the Hudson River and its tributaries, and then to monitor bacterial activity and community structure determined by fluorescence in situ hybridization with oligonucleotide probes. The locations differed significantly in DOM composition and concentrations, ectoenzyme activity and bacterial community structure. We found that water source and, to a lesser extent, source of the inoculum significantly affected nearly all aspects of bacterial activity and community structure. A common inoculum grown in different waters often led to as much as a 2-fold difference in enzyme activities. When 2 different bacterial communities were inoculated in the same water, community structure and the activity of some ectoenzymes remained different after several days. Other data also pointed to a dependence of ectoenzyme activity on community structure. Activity of several ectoenzymes covaried with the relative abundances of the 4 bacterial groups we examined (alpha-, beta- and gamma-proteobacteria, and Cytophaga-like bacteria); the highest correlation was between beta-proteobacteria and phosphatase activity. In multi-variate regression analyses, community structure explained a significant amount of the variation in rates of all ectoenzymes except 2 proteases. The abundance of Cytophaga-like bacteria was the dominant variable in the regression models for the activity of 3 ectoenzymes. These data suggest that DOM can affect the relative abundance of the major heterotrophic bacterial groups, and that the relative abundance of these groups could have an impact on DOM hydrolysis.

Environmental selection and dispersal limitation are two basic processes underlying community assembly. The relative importance of those two processes differs across scales, community identities, and community types. The processes responsible for structuring microbial communities in soil of temperate subalpine forest are poorly understood. Here, we investigated the relationship between soil bacterial community structure and environmental factors, and quantified the relative role of edaphic factors, vegetation, and spatial variables in shaping the structure of six soil bacterial communities (LpMC1, LpMC2, PwMC, PmMC, PtMC, and BMC) in five forest types including Larix principis-rupprechtii, Picea wilsonii, Picea meyeri, Pinus tabulaeformis, and Betula platyphylla in Pangquangou Nature Reserve by using PCR-DGGE technology. Our results showed that the structure and biodiversity of bacterial communities were significantly different among six communities. The biodiversity of bacterial community were higher in LpMC2 and PtMC, lowest in PmMC, and highest in LpMC1. Soil environmental factors, such as pH, soil water content, total carbon, total nitrogen, soil organic matter, available phosphorous, and soil enzymes, were significantly correlated with biodiversity and structure of soil bacterial community. The beta diversity of bacterial communities were significantly correlated with geographic distance, indicating the influence of dispersal limitation on the structure of bacterial community. The order of driving force on the structure of bacterial community was edaphic factors (0.27), spatial factor (0.19) and vegetation (0.15) in six samples. Using regional soil microbes from 10 samples around reserve as source community, results from the microcosm experiments showed that the edaphic factors were the predominant driving factors (0.35) on structure of artificial dispersal bacterial community, while the high diversity of source microbial community affected the structure of microcosm soil. In summary, at local scale, environmental selection predominantly determined the structural and biodiversity of soil bacterial communities in temperate subalpine forest, while dispersal limitation played a significant role. Such a result indicated that deterministic processes and stochastic processes played important roles in shaping the structure of soil bacterial community at local scale, with the former having the leading role. The composition of dispersal soil bacteria community was source-dependent but also modulated by local environmental selection.

Heavy metal pollution poses a serious hazard to the soil bacterial community. In this study, the 16 s rRNA high-throughput sequencing technology was used to analyze bacterial diversity and structure of dry field soil at different levels of heavy metal pollution. Further, the relationships between soil parameters and bacterial community were analyzed. Based on the study findings, we classified the levels of heavy metal pollution in soil samples from the study area could be divided into four grades: high risk (HR), considerable risk (CR), moderate risk (MR) and low risk (LR). In this study, heavy metal concentrations and pH showed significant effect on bacterial community structure. The distribution of bacterial community richness and diversity was MR > LR > CR > HR. Bacterial communities such as Acidobacteria, Chloroflexi and Gemmatimonadetes were highly resistant to the lower pH (pH < 6.5) and the high levels of heavy metal pollution compared with other bacterial community, which were abundant in HR samples. However, Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes and Latescibacteria were more abundant in alkaline soils (pH > 7.5). Further, available Cd, Pb and Zn concentrations were lower in alkaline soils than acidic soils, which reduced the impact of heavy metals on bacterial community diversity and structure.

The responses of soil microbes to climatic and anthropological factors in the Tibetan grasslands

ABSTRACTAt present, growth-promoting antibiotics are banned in the pig industry in many countries, but therapeutic antibiotics can still be used normally. However, the effect of therapeutic antibiotics on the structure and function of the intestinal bacterial community and its recovery is still unclear. We analyzed the effects of enrofloxacin on the pig manure bacterial community and functional genes during dosing and without dosing. Enrofloxacin caused significant changes in community structure. The changes in the diversity and structure of the bacterial community were the most obvious on the fifth day, and most of the differentially abundant genera (19/29) belonged to Firmicutes. The structure of the manure bacterial community in the low concentration enrofloxacin group was completely reverted after 10 days of drug discontinuation. In addition, enrofloxacin had a significant impact on the abundance of bacterial functional genes. Most of the differentially abundant functional genes of the manure bacterial community were significantly enriched, especially genes related to metabolic pathways, for adaptation to the antibiotic environment. Moreover, exposure to enrofloxacin increased the abundance of functional genes related to nitrogen metabolism in the manure bacterial community, and the total nitrogen content of pig manure was significantly reduced. The functional genetic differences caused by enrofloxacin exposure were completely reverted 10 days after drug discontinuation. The results of the present study suggest that enrofloxacin induces changes in the structure and function of manure bacterial communities, which may be rapidly recovered after drug discontinuation.IMPORTANCE A stable intestinal bacterial community balance is beneficial for animal health. Enrofloxacin is widely used in animal husbandry as a therapeutic drug, but it can cause intestinal environmental imbalance. Enrofloxacin is widely present in groundwater, pork, etc., which leads to a greater risk of human exposure. The effect of enrofloxacin on the structure and function of the intestinal bacterial community and its recovery is still unclear. In this study, we found that enrofloxacin, as a therapeutic drug, can enhance nitrogen metabolism in the manure bacterial community. Moreover, the structure and function of the manure bacterial community in the low concentration enrofloxacin group may be completely reverted 10 days after drug discontinuation. This study provides a reference for the effect of enrofloxacin exposure on the intestinal bacterial community.

Soil microorganisms play a key role in soil physical structure. Soil microbial community structure and functions are in turn affected by soil aggregation or degradation. The objectives of this study were to determine the impact of (1) soil aggregate-size distribution and (2) soil compaction on bacterial community richness and structure under three intensive potato (Solanum tuberosum) cropping systems. In June and July 2014, soil samples were collected at a depth of 0-20 cm from 16 sites in Quebec, Canada. The samples were analyzed for aggregate-size distribution, particle-size distribution, total carbon, total nitrogen, total sulfur, oxalate-extractable potassium and phosphorus, gravimetric moisture content, pH and degree of compactness (DC). Soil bacterial community diversity was assessed by using the high-throughput sequencing Illumina MiSeq platform to target the V6-V8 region of bacterial 16S rRNA gene. Bacterial alpha diversity and community structure were found to be affected by cropping systems. Faith's phylogenetic diversity index and bacterial richness increased with increasing proportions of the 1–0.5 mm and 2–1 mm aggregate-size fractions and micro-aggregates in soils. Redundancy analysis revealed a strong correlation between soil bacterial community structure and soil aggregate-size distribution. Eight of the 27 dominant bacterial classes had a significant relationship with aggregate size fractions >2 mm, 1- 0.5 mm and < 0.1 mm. In addition, the degree of soil compaction had a significant effect on soil bacterial community structure, with 70% of the dominant classes showing greater relative abundance in the moderate and high DC groups than in the low DC group. This research provided a benchmark for bacterial community structure in potato agroecosystems as impacted by soil aggregation and compaction.

Core Ideas The selected enzymatic activities were not significantly affected by the GK 12. The bacterial population size was not significantly affected by the GK 12. The bacterial community structure was not significantly affected by the GK 12. Transgenic Bt‐cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) GK 12 is commonly used for control of lepidopteran pests in China, but concerns exist regarding possible unintended effects on soil microbial communities. Bacterial population sizes and community structures in the rhizosphere soil under intensive cultivation of GK 12, its near‐isogenic parent Simian 3 and a conventional cotton DP 5415 were analyzed during 2009 to 2011 by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). Dehydrogenase, urease, and phosphatase activities were also measured. It was found that these microbial‐related parameters were significantly influenced by variations due to the year and plant growth stage. There were occasional differences in bacterial population size and community structures at some growth stages, but they were not manifested throughout the growing cycle and were not considered meaningful. Generally no significant differences were found in selected enzymatic activities, and bacterial population sizes and community structures in the rhizosphere soil of GK 12 and Simian 3. Three different species or bands were unique to GK 12 and Simian 3, but they were unamplifiable. The resolvable band profile or annotatable species composition was not different between GK 12 and Simian 3. Therefore, the data of this study did not show any significant and permanent impacts of Bt‐insertion in GK 12 on selected enzymatic activities, bacterial population size, and community structures in the rhizosphere soil during 3‐yr tests in northern China.

Composition of soil viral and bacterial communities after long-term tillage, fertilization, and cover cropping management

As vertebrate carrion decomposes, there is a release of nutrient-rich fluids into the underlying soil, which can impact associated biological community structure and function. How these changes alter soil biogeochemical cycles is relatively unknown and may prove useful in the identification of carrion decomposition islands that have long lasting, focal ecological effects. This study investigated the spatial (0, 1, and 5 m) and temporal (3–732 days) dynamics of human cadaver decomposition on soil bacterial and arthropod community structure and microbial function. We observed strong evidence of a predictable response to cadaver decomposition that varies over space for soil bacterial and arthropod community structure, carbon (C) mineralization and microbial substrate utilization patterns. In the presence of a cadaver (i.e., 0 m samples), the relative abundance of Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes was greater, while the relative abundance of Acidobacteria, Chloroflexi, Gemmatimonadetes, and Verrucomicrobia was lower when compared to samples at 1 and 5 m. Micro-arthropods were more abundant (15 to 17-fold) in soils collected at 0 m compared to either 1 or 5 m, but overall, micro-arthropod community composition was unrelated to either bacterial community composition or function. Bacterial community structure and microbial function also exhibited temporal relationships, whereas arthropod community structure did not. Cumulative precipitation was more effective in predicting temporal variations in bacterial abundance and microbial activity than accumulated degree days. In the presence of the cadaver (i.e., 0 m samples), the relative abundance of Actinobacteria increased significantly with cumulative precipitation. Furthermore, soil bacterial communities and C mineralization were sensitive to the introduction of human cadavers as they diverged from baseline levels and did not recover completely in approximately 2 years. These data are valuable for understanding ecosystem function surrounding carrion decomposition islands and can be applicable to environmental bio-monitoring and forensic sciences.

Plant-parasitic nematodes are prevalent in many soils and impose an economic burden worldwide on agriculture, through yield reductions and cost of control. There is a prominent need for the development and implementation of sustainable control mechanisms, to reduce the widespread use of hazardous nematicides. The incorporation of less hazardous nematicides has been suggested as a possible step to move towards this. This study aimed to address commercially relevant and ecological important questions on the use of a potential novel nematode control agent, BGT, as developed by Arcis Biotechnology Ltd. In laboratory assays, bacterial species and a yeast showed different levels of susceptibility to BGT exposure. It is difficult to extrapolate the concentrations used to that at which the product would be in the soil but these studies suggest that soil application would likely cause changes in the microbial community structure. Soil samples were taken from experimental plots on a UK potato field following treatment applications to explore both immediate impacts and recovery of microbial communities. The changes in functional bacterial diversity and metabolic potential were estimated using community-level physiological profiling (CLPP). Additionally, taxon-specific quantitative PCR was used to detect changes in the bacterial and fungal community structure. The BGT treatments resulted in changes in the diversity of substrate utilisation as recorded by CLPP. Differences in utilisation patterns indicate repeated BGT treatments of 4 L/ha are likely to change the bacterial community structure. The use of qPCR showed that BGT treatments at 8 L/ha led to changes in the relative abundance of bacterial and fungal taxon groups. Although no significant changes in total abundance of bacterial communities were detected and current theory suggests that a small loss of diversity may not have a major impact on current soil functioning, it may impair long term soil health and ultimately productivity. In controlled toxicity assays, BGT was found to be of relatively low toxicity to earthworms, suggesting it is of low risk to terrestrial organisms. When applied directly to seed of wheat and tomato, BGT caused some reduction in seedling growth but treatments did not appear to cause any phytotoxic effects on wheat plants in glasshouse trials or on potato crops in field trials following both pre-planting and repeated application during plant growth.

Bacterial community structure in atmospheric particulate matters of different sizes during the haze days in Xi'an, China

Amplicon-based assessment of bacterial diversity and community structure in three tropical forest soils in Kenya

It has been shown that the golden apple snail (GAS, Pomacea canaliculata), which is a serious agricultural pest in Southeast Asia, can provide a soil amendment for the reversal of soil acidification and degradation. However, the impact of GAS residue (i.e., crushed, whole GAS) on soil bacterial diversity and community structure remains largely unknown. Here, a greenhouse pot experiment was conducted and 16S rRNA gene sequencing was used to measure bacterial abundance and community structure in soils amended with GAS residue and lime. The results suggest that adding GAS residue resulted in a significant variation in soil pH and nutrients (all P < 0.05), and resulted in a slightly alkaline (pH = 7.28–7.75) and nutrient-enriched soil, with amendment of 2.5–100 g kg−1 GAS residue. Soil nutrients (i.e., NO3-N and TN) and TOC contents were increased (by 132–912%), and some soil exocellular enzyme activities were enhanced (by 2–98%) in GAS residue amended soil, with amendment of 1.0–100 g kg−1 GAS residue. Bacterial OTU richness was 19% greater at the 2.5 g kg−1 GAS residue treatment than the control, while it was 40% and 53% lower at 100 g kg−1 of GAS residue and 50 g kg−1 of lime amended soils, respectively. Firmicutes (15–35%) was the most abundant phylum while Bacterioidetes (1–6%) was the lowest abundant one in GAS residue amended soils. RDA results suggest that the contents of soil nutrients (i.e., NO3-N and TN) and soil TOC explained much more of the variations of bacterial community than pH in GAS residue amended soil. Overuse of GAS residue would induce an anaerobic soil environment and reduce bacterial OTU richness. Soil nutrients and TOC rather than pH might be the main factors that are responsible for the changes of bacterial OTU richness and bacterial community structure in GAS residue amended soil.