Premium
Differences in soil micro‐eukaryotic communities over soil pH gradients are strongly driven by parasites and saprotrophs
Author(s) -
Dupont A. Ö. C.,
Griffiths R. I.,
Bell T.,
Bass D.
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
environmental microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.954
H-Index - 188
eISSN - 1462-2920
pISSN - 1462-2912
DOI - 10.1111/1462-2920.13220
Subject(s) - biology , protist , eukaryote , phylogenetic tree , internal transcribed spacer , 18s ribosomal rna , community structure , phylogenetics , biodiversity , ecology , pyrosequencing , ribosomal rna , unifrac , soil microbiology , evolutionary biology , soil water , genetics , 16s ribosomal rna , gene , genome
Summary A recent large‐scale assessment of bacterial communities across a range of UK soil types showed that bacterial community structure was strongly determined by soil pH. We analysed a data set of eukaryotic 454 sequencing 18S rDNA from the surveyed samples and showed significant differences in eukaryotic assemblages according to pH class, mostly between low pH and higher pH soils. Soil eukaryote communities (per sample) differed most at the taxonomic rank approximating to order level. Taxonomies assigned with the P rotist R ibosomal R eference and the S ilva 119 databases were taxonomically inconsistent, mostly due to differing 18S annotations, although general structure and composition according to pH were coherent. A relatively small number of lineages, mostly putative parasitic protists and fungi, drive most differences between pH classes, with weaker contributions from bacterivores and autotrophs. Overall, soil parasites included a large diversity of alveolates, in particular apicomplexans. Phylogenetic analysis of alveolate lineages demonstrates a large diversity of unknown gregarines, novel perkinsids, coccidians, colpodellids and uncharacterized alveolates. Other novel and/or divergent lineages were revealed across the eukaryote tree of life. Our study provides an in‐depth taxonomic evaluation of micro‐eukaryotic diversity, and reveals novel lineages and insights into their relationships with environmental variables across soil gradients.