Abstract
Profiling the metabolic processes performed by bacteria is vital both for understanding and for manipulating ecosystems for industrial or research purposes. In this study we aim to assess the bacterial functional diversity in termite mound soils with the assumption that significant differences will be observed in the functional diversity of bacteria between the termite mound soils and their surrounding soils and that each environment has a distinguishing metabolic profile. Here, metagenomic DNA extracted from termite mound soils and their corresponding surrounding soils, which are 10 m apart, were sequenced using a shotgun sequencing approach. Our results revealed that the relative abundances of 16 functional categories differed significantly between both habitats. The α diversity analysis indicated no significant difference in bacterial functional categories within the habitats while the β diversity showed that the bacterial functional categories varied significantly between the termite mound soils and the surrounding soil samples. The variations in soil physical and chemical properties existing between the two environments were held accountable for the differences in bacterial functional structure. With the high relative abundance of functional categories with unknown function reported in this study, this could signify the likelihood of getting novel genes from termite mound soils, which are needed for research and commercial applications.
Highlights
Termite mound soils account for about ten percent of African soils in tropical environments [1].The termites’ activities during mound construction have a considerable impact on soil morphology such as the formation of subsurface horizons, soil structures, soil aeration, aggregation, and texture [2].This may in turn have an effect of the bacterial diversity in termite mound soils [1]
The output file after quality control (QC) contained an average sum of 6,802,220 (T1) and 6,422,685 (T2) retained sequence reads with an average G + C content of 61.25% for the termite mound soil samples, while an average sum of 7,327,766 (S1) and 6,916,304 (S2) sequence reads with an average G + C content of 66.25% were retained for the surrounding soil samples
Of the sequence reads that passed QC, 2,558,335 (T1) and 2,324,880 (T2), the sequence reads from termite mound soils contained predicted proteins with known functions while 2,780,323 (S1) and 2,635,204 (S2) sequence reads from surrounding soil samples contained predicted proteins with known functions
Summary
Termite mound soils account for about ten percent of African soils in tropical environments [1].The termites’ activities during mound construction have a considerable impact on soil morphology such as the formation of subsurface horizons, soil structures, soil aeration, aggregation, and texture [2].This may in turn have an effect of the bacterial diversity in termite mound soils [1]. The termites’ activities during mound construction have a considerable impact on soil morphology such as the formation of subsurface horizons, soil structures, soil aeration, aggregation, and texture [2]. Some bacteria isolated from termite mound soils could serve as potential materials for the following: Antimicrobial production [3,4], bioremediation [5], bio-filtering [6], biofertilizers, and biocontrol [7]. The presence of these bacteria may lead to an increase in soil fertility and crop production, health improvement, and environmental sustainability [8]. Termite mound soils have been reported to have high amounts of soil organic matter as well as phosphorus and nitrogen [10]
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