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Metagenomic insights into microbial metabolism affecting arsenic dispersion in M editerranean marine sediments
Author(s) -
Plewniak Frédéric,
Koechler Sandrine,
Navet Benjamin,
DugatBony Éric,
Bouchez Olivier,
Peyret Pierre,
Séby Fabienne,
BattagliaBrunet Fabienne,
Bertin Philippe N.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
molecular ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.619
H-Index - 225
eISSN - 1365-294X
pISSN - 0962-1083
DOI - 10.1111/mec.12432
Subject(s) - metagenomics , arsenic , biogeochemical cycle , environmental chemistry , biology , microbial population biology , arsenate , arsenite , microbial metabolism , metalloid , microorganism , sediment , bacteria , ecology , chemistry , metal , biochemistry , genetics , gene , paleontology , organic chemistry
Microorganisms dwelling in sediments have a crucial role in biogeochemical cycles and are expected to have a strong influence on the cycle of arsenic, a metalloid responsible for severe water pollution and presenting major health risks for human populations. We present here a metagenomic study of the sediment from two harbours on the M editerranean F rench coast, l' E staque and S t M andrier. The first site is highly polluted with arsenic and heavy metals, while the arsenic concentration in the second site is below toxicity levels. The goal of this study was to elucidate the potential impact of the microbial community on the chemical parameters observed in complementary geochemical studies performed on the same sites. The metagenomic sequences, along with those from four publicly available metagenomes used as control data sets, were analysed with the RAMMCAP workflow. The resulting functional profiles were compared to determine the over‐represented G ene O ntology categories in the metagenomes of interest. Categories related to arsenic resistance and dissimilatory sulphate reduction were over‐represented in l' E staque. More importantly, despite very similar profiles, the identification of specific sequence markers for sulphate‐reducing bacteria and sulphur‐oxidizing bacteria showed that sulphate reduction was significantly more associated with l' E staque than with S t M andrier. We propose that biotic sulphate reduction, arsenate reduction and fermentation may together explain the higher mobility of arsenic observed in l' E staque in previous physico‐chemical studies of this site. This study also demonstrates that it is possible to draw sound conclusions from comparing complex and similar unassembled metagenomes at the functional level, even with very low sequence coverage.