Diversity change of microbial communities responding to zinc and arsenic pollution in a river of northeastern China

Abstract

Pollution discharge disturbs the natural functions of water systems. The environmental microbial community composition and diversity are sensitive key indicators to the impact of water pollutant on the microbial ecology system over time. It is meaningful to develop a way to identify the microbial diversity related to heavy metal effects in evaluating river pollution. Water and sediment samples were collected from eight sections along the Tiaozi River where wastewater and sewage were discharged from Siping City in northeastern China. The main pollutants contents and microbial communities were analyzed. As the primary metal pollutants, zinc (Zn) and arsenic (As) were recorded at the maximum concentrations of 420 and 5.72 μg/L in the water, and 1704 and 1.92 mg/kg in the sediment, respectively. These pollutants posed a threat to the microbial community diversity as only a few species of bacteria and eukaryotes with strong resistance were detected through denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). Acinetobacter johnsonii, Clostridium cellulovorans, and Trichococcus pasteurii were the dominant bacteria in the severely polluted areas. The massive reproduction of Limnodrilus hoffmeisteri almost depleted the dissolved oxygen (DO) and resulted in the decline of the aerobic bacteria. It was noted that the pollution reduced the microbial diversity but the L. hoffmeisteri mass increased as the dominant community, which led to the overconsuming of DO and anaerobic stinking water bodies. Water quality, concentrations of heavy metals, and the spatial distribution of microbial populations have obvious consistencies, which mean that the heavy metals in the river pose a serious stress on the microorganisms.

Occurrence, distribution and virulence factors of clinically important Acinetobacter species recovered from selected freshwater resources in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

“…The occurrence and distribution of Acinetobacter spp. in freshwater resources in the study further validated the findings in other reports [29,31].…”

“…The study reported that the relative abundance of Acinetobacter species was 0.5% of the total bacterial community. In 2014, Zhao and others [31] isolated a set of bacteria from the zinc and arsenic polluted river in Northeastern China, where bacteria belonging to the genus Acinetobacter were found to be prominent. The occurrence and distribution of Acinetobacter spp.…”

Deciphering conjugative plasmid permissiveness in wastewater microbiomes

“…Sewage water is heavily loaded with chemical and biological contaminants, excess of organic compounds, heavy metals, pesticides, traces of oil and grease, as well as pharmaceuticals like antimicrobial agents (Heberer, ; Joss et al., ). This creates a harsh and selective environment (e.g., eutrophic, anaerobic and chaotropic conditions), which is likely to select specialized and well‐adapted microorganisms (Korlević et al., ; Zhao et al., ). Indeed, a robust phylogenetic trend based on lower cDNA prevalence in the inlet compartments was found, suggesting conservation of transcriptional activity in large taxonomic groups (e.g., phylum and class).…”

Reservoirs of Non-baumannii Acinetobacter Species

“…It has also been shown that pollution of environmental sites either with fuel oil or metals can affect the microbial diversity and only few types of bacteria such as Acinetobacter spp. were able to resist and dominate such polluted areas (Bordenave et al, 2007 ; Zhao et al, 2014 ). Moreover, these bacteria are able to degrade various pollutants and organic compounds and have an important role in environmental bioremediation (Adegoke et al, 2012 ; Cray et al, 2013 ).…”