Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, NE1 8ST, UK.
Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, 1015, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Microb Ecol. 2023 Oct;86(3):1661-1675. doi: 10.1007/s00248-023-02204-y. Epub 2023 Mar 20.
Arctic soils are constantly subjected to microbial invasion from either airborne, marine, or animal sources, which may impact local microbial communities and ecosystem functioning. However, in winter, Arctic soils are isolated from outside sources other than snow, which is the sole source of microorganisms. Successful colonisation of soil by snow microorganisms depends on the ability to survive and compete of both, the invading and resident community. Using shallow shotgun metagenome sequencing and amplicon sequencing, this study monitored snow and soil microbial communities throughout snow melt to investigate the colonisation process of Arctic soils. Microbial colonisation likely occurred as all the characteristics of successful colonisation were observed. The colonising microorganisms originating from the snow were already adapted to the local environmental conditions and were subsequently subjected to many similar conditions in the Arctic soil. Furthermore, competition-related genes (e.g. motility and virulence) increased in snow samples as the snow melted. Overall, one hundred potentially successful colonisers were identified in the soil and, thus, demonstrated the deposition and growth of snow microorganisms in soils during melt.
北极土壤不断受到来自空气、海洋或动物源的微生物入侵，这可能会影响当地的微生物群落和生态系统功能。然而，在冬季，北极土壤与雪以外的其他来源隔绝，而雪是微生物的唯一来源。雪微生物对土壤的成功定殖取决于入侵和驻留群落的生存和竞争能力。本研究使用浅层 shotgun 宏基因组测序和扩增子测序，在整个融雪过程中监测雪和土壤微生物群落，以研究北极土壤的定殖过程。微生物定殖可能发生了，因为所有成功定殖的特征都观察到了。来自雪的定殖微生物已经适应了当地的环境条件，随后在北极土壤中经历了许多类似的条件。此外，随着雪的融化，与竞争相关的基因（如运动性和毒性）在雪样本中增加。总的来说，在土壤中鉴定出了 100 种可能的成功定殖者，因此证明了在融雪过程中，雪微生物在土壤中的沉积和生长。
