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Microbial Ecology

Organohalide-Respiring Bacteria at the Heart of Anaerobic Metabolism in Arctic Wet Tundra Soils

David A. Lipson, Theodore K. Raab, Sherlynette Pérez Castro, Alexander Powell
Knut Rudi, Editor
David A. Lipson
aDepartment of Biology, San Diego State University, San Diego, California, USA
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Theodore K. Raab
bDepartment of Plant Biology, Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford, California, USA
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Sherlynette Pérez Castro
aDepartment of Biology, San Diego State University, San Diego, California, USA
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Alexander Powell
aDepartment of Biology, San Diego State University, San Diego, California, USA
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Knut Rudi
Norwegian University of Life Sciences
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DOI: 10.1128/AEM.01643-20
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ABSTRACT

Recent work revealed an active biological chlorine cycle in coastal Arctic tundra of northern Alaska. This raised the question of whether chlorine cycling was restricted to coastal areas or if these processes extended to inland tundra. The anaerobic process of organohalide respiration, carried out by specialized bacteria like Dehalococcoides, consumes hydrogen gas and acetate using halogenated organic compounds as terminal electron acceptors, potentially competing with methanogens that produce the greenhouse gas methane. We measured microbial community composition and soil chemistry along an ∼262-km coastal-inland transect to test for the potential of organohalide respiration across the Arctic Coastal Plain and studied the microbial community associated with Dehalococcoides to explore the ecology of this group and its potential to impact C cycling in the Arctic. Concentrations of brominated organic compounds declined sharply with distance from the coast, but the decrease in organic chlorine pools was more subtle. The relative abundances of Dehalococcoides were similar across the transect, except for being lower at the most inland site. Dehalococcoides correlated with other strictly anaerobic genera, plus some facultative ones, that had the genetic potential to provide essential resources (hydrogen, acetate, corrinoids, or organic chlorine). This community included iron reducers, sulfate reducers, syntrophic bacteria, acetogens, and methanogens, some of which might also compete with Dehalococcoides for hydrogen and acetate. Throughout the Arctic Coastal Plain, Dehalococcoides is associated with the dominant anaerobes that control fluxes of hydrogen, acetate, methane, and carbon dioxide. Depending on seasonal electron acceptor availability, organohalide-respiring bacteria could impact carbon cycling in Arctic wet tundra soils.

IMPORTANCE Once considered relevant only in contaminated sites, it is now recognized that biological chlorine cycling is widespread in natural environments. However, linkages between chlorine cycling and other ecosystem processes are not well established. Species in the genus Dehalococcoides are highly specialized, using hydrogen, acetate, vitamin B12-like compounds, and organic chlorine produced by the surrounding community. We studied which neighbors might produce these essential resources for Dehalococcoides species. We found that Dehalococcoides species are ubiquitous across the Arctic Coastal Plain and are closely associated with a network of microbes that produce or consume hydrogen or acetate, including the most abundant anaerobic bacteria and methanogenic archaea. We also found organic chlorine and microbes that can produce these compounds throughout the study area. Therefore, Dehalococcoides could control the balance between carbon dioxide and methane (a more potent greenhouse gas) when suitable organic chlorine compounds are available to drive hydrogen and acetate uptake.

FOOTNOTES

    • Received 7 July 2020.
    • Accepted 10 November 2020.
    • Accepted manuscript posted online 13 November 2020.
  • Supplemental material is available online only.

  • Copyright © 2021 American Society for Microbiology.

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Organohalide-Respiring Bacteria at the Heart of Anaerobic Metabolism in Arctic Wet Tundra Soils
David A. Lipson, Theodore K. Raab, Sherlynette Pérez Castro, Alexander Powell
Applied and Environmental Microbiology Jan 2021, 87 (3) e01643-20; DOI: 10.1128/AEM.01643-20

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Organohalide-Respiring Bacteria at the Heart of Anaerobic Metabolism in Arctic Wet Tundra Soils
David A. Lipson, Theodore K. Raab, Sherlynette Pérez Castro, Alexander Powell
Applied and Environmental Microbiology Jan 2021, 87 (3) e01643-20; DOI: 10.1128/AEM.01643-20
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KEYWORDS

Arctic
Dehalococcoides
chlorine
methanogenesis
soil

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