Function-specific response to depletion of microbial diversity

Peter, Hannes; Beier, Sara; Bertilsson, Stefan; Lindström, Eva S.; Langenheder, Silke; Tranvik, Lars J.

doi:10.1038/ismej.2010.119

Cited by 205 publications

(214 citation statements)

References 50 publications

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“…Both are directly determined by the environmental setting; in addition, functions can be indirectly affected through altered community structure. Experimental tests with assembled bacterial communities at strictly controlled diversity levels have demonstrated that changes in community attributes such as diversity can affect ecosystem processes in various cases (Bell et al, 2009;Langenheder et al, 2010;Peter et al, 2011), one of them quite spectacular (Bell et al, 2005). These results are in line with evidence from a body of similar experiments conducted with higher plants, invertebrates, algae and other microorganisms (Gessner et al, 2010;Cardinale et al, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 79%

“…The striking disconnect between bacterial community structure and potential enzyme activities that we observed also appears to be counter to results from controlled experiments with assembled communities, where bacterial diversity (that is, a component of community structure) has been found to matter for ecosystem functioning (Bell et al, 2005;Langenheder et al, 2010;Peter et al, 2011). However, those experiments primarily focused on assessing effects of varying numbers of species or strains rather than the composition of communities and abundance of dominant strains or species as in the present study.…”

Section: Temporal Variability Of Potential Enzyme Activitiescontrasting

confidence: 53%

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Disconnect of microbial structure and function: enzyme activities and bacterial communities in nascent stream corridors

et al. 2011

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A fundamental issue in microbial and general ecology is the question to what extent environmental conditions dictate the structure of communities and the linkages with functional properties of ecosystems (that is, ecosystem function). We approached this question by taking advantage of environmental gradients established in soil and sediments of small stream corridors in a recently created, early successional catchment. Specifically, we determined spatial and temporal patterns of bacterial community structure and their linkages with potential microbial enzyme activities along the hydrological flow paths of the catchment. Soil and sediments were sampled in a total of 15 sites on four occasions spread throughout a year. Denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) was used to characterize bacterial communities, and substrate analogs linked to fluorescent molecules served to track 10 different enzymes as specific measures of ecosystem function. Potential enzyme activities varied little among sites, despite contrasting environmental conditions, especially in terms of water availability. Temporal changes, in contrast, were pronounced and remarkably variable among the enzymes tested. This suggests much greater importance of temporal dynamics than spatial heterogeneity in affecting specific ecosystem functions. Most strikingly, bacterial community structure revealed neither temporal nor spatial patterns. The resulting disconnect between bacterial community structure and potential enzyme activities indicates high functional redundancy within microbial communities even in the physically and biologically simplified stream corridors of early successional landscapes.

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Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 79%

Section: Temporal Variability Of Potential Enzyme Activitiescontrasting

confidence: 53%

Disconnect of microbial structure and function: enzyme activities and bacterial communities in nascent stream corridors

et al. 2011

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“…A gradient in microbial biodiversity in an activated sludge community was established using a dilution‐to‐extinction approach (Szabó et al ., 2007; Peter et al ., 2010; Philippot et al ., 2013; Ylla et al ., 2013). In this approach, each dilution theoretically removes the least abundant species from the previous culture, resulting in a less diverse subset of the original community.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Elucidating the impact of microbial community biodiversity on pharmaceutical biotransformation during wastewater treatment

Stadler

Vela

Jain

et al. 2017

Microbial Biotechnology

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SummaryIn addition to removing organics and other nutrients, the microorganisms in wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) biotransform many pharmaceuticals present in wastewater. The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between pharmaceutical biotransformation and biodiversity in WWTP bioreactor microbial communities and identify taxa and functional genes that were strongly associated with biotransformation. Dilution‐to‐extinction of an activated sludge microbial community was performed to establish cultures with a gradient of microbial biodiversity. Batch experiments were performed using the dilution cultures to determine biotransformation extents of several environmentally relevant pharmaceuticals. With this approach, because the communities were all established from the same original community, and using sequencing of the 16S rRNA and metatranscriptome, we identified candidate taxa and genes whose activity and transcript abundances associated with the extent of individual pharmaceutical biotransformation and were lost across the biodiversity gradient. Metabolic genes such as dehydrogenases, amidases and monooxygenases were significantly associated with pharmaceutical biotransformation, and five genera were identified whose activity significantly associated with pharmaceutical biotransformation. Understanding how biotransformation relates to biodiversity will inform the design of biological WWTPs for enhanced removal of chemicals that negatively impact environmental health.

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“…Interestingly, diversity in DSL-MAP soils was not related to degradation, suggesting that diversity may be important in the initial selection of organisms, but less important for actual hydrocarbon degradation. Other recent studies have also shown that the diversity-function relationship depends on the function being considered, and that in some cases, the presence of specific taxa is more important than actual diversity (Salles et al, 2009;Peter et al, 2011). Most of the major taxonomic groups were present in all soils, so it may be that evenness increased the number of groups that could potentially respond to nutrient addition, as the presence of dominant bacterial taxa can sometimes limit the establishment of other bacteria (Heczko et al, 2000).…”

Section: Predictability Of Hydrocarbon Degradation In Arctic Soilsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Predictable bacterial composition and hydrocarbon degradation in Arctic soils following diesel and nutrient disturbance

et al. 2013

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Increased exploration and exploitation of resources in the Arctic is leading to a higher risk of petroleum contamination. A number of Arctic microorganisms can use petroleum for growth-supporting carbon and energy, but traditional approaches for stimulating these microorganisms (for example, nutrient addition) have varied in effectiveness between sites. Consistent environmental controls on microbial community response to disturbance from petroleum contaminants and nutrient amendments across Arctic soils have not been identified, nor is it known whether specific taxa are universally associated with efficient bioremediation. In this study, we contaminated 18 Arctic soils with diesel and treated subsamples of each with monoammonium phosphate (MAP), which has successfully stimulated degradation in some contaminated Arctic soils. Bacterial community composition of uncontaminated, diesel-contaminated and diesel+MAP soils was assessed through multiplexed 16S (ribosomal RNA) rRNA gene sequencing on an Ion Torrent Personal Genome Machine, while hydrocarbon degradation was measured by gas chromatography analysis. Diversity of 16S rRNA gene sequences was reduced by diesel, and more so by the combination of diesel and MAP. Actinobacteria dominated uncontaminated soils with <10% organic matter, while Proteobacteria dominated higher-organic matter soils, and this pattern was exaggerated following disturbance. Degradation with and without MAP was predictable by initial bacterial diversity and the abundance of specific assemblages of Betaproteobacteria, respectively. High Betaproteobacteria abundance was positively correlated with high diesel degradation in MAP-treated soils, suggesting this may be an important group to stimulate. The predictability with which bacterial communities respond to these disturbances suggests that costly and time-consuming contaminated site assessments may not be necessary in the future.

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Function-specific response to depletion of microbial diversity

Cited by 205 publications

References 50 publications

Disconnect of microbial structure and function: enzyme activities and bacterial communities in nascent stream corridors

Disconnect of microbial structure and function: enzyme activities and bacterial communities in nascent stream corridors

Elucidating the impact of microbial community biodiversity on pharmaceutical biotransformation during wastewater treatment

Predictable bacterial composition and hydrocarbon degradation in Arctic soils following diesel and nutrient disturbance

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