Molecular-Genetic Characteristics (16S rRNA) of Soil Microbiome in Technogenically Affected Zones
TL;DR
In soils affected by the timber chemical plant and railway infrastructure, significant shifts in the relative abundance of specific taxonomic groups within the bacteriome were observed.
Abstract
16S rDNA acts as a genetic fingerprint, helping scientists classify and track the evolutionary history of bacteria. Modern rapid sequencing tools, like Illumina, leverage the sequence differences (variation) in this gene to quickly identify all the bacterial species within an environmental sample, making this an important way to study microbial communities. The objective of this study was to determine the taxonomic composition of soil microbial communities using a metagenomic analysis to assess the impact of timber chemical production and transport infrastructure сompared to a control site. Methods. For three variants of soil samples (conditional control, timber chemical plant impact zone, and combined anthropogenic load platform, followed by a bioinformatic analysis. Results. The majority of soil prokaryotic metagenome sequences were identified as Bacteria (95–98%), while 1–4% were identified as Archaea. The studied metagenomes were dominated by sequences identified as Actinomycetota, Pseudomonadota, and Chloroflexota, which together accounted for 65–77% of the total bacterial count. In soils within the anthropogenic impact zones, there was a notable dominance of Actinomycetota (35.4% and 47.2% OTU vs. 33.5% OTU in the control), Chloroflexota (6.9 % and 12.6% OTU vs. 4.2% in the control), and Thermoproteota (3.4 % and 4.1% OTU vs. 1.8% in the control). Conversely, the number of OTUs identified as Verrucomicrobiota decreased in these soils by 28–35 times compared to the control. Conclusions. In soils affected by the timber chemical plant and railway infrastructure, significant shifts in the relative abundance of specific taxonomic groups within the bacteriome were observed. Trends toward increased bacterial diversity compared to the control have been established, which necessitates further research and the establishment of correlations between the obtained metagenomic data and the physicochemical properties of the soils.