Year: 2024
Type: article
Abstract: Aqueous metals are pervasive contaminants associated with historical mining. We produced and examined 16 metagenomes from a contaminated creek to investigate how anthropogenic metal contamination shapes the functional profiles of microbial communities. We then incorporated the metagenomic profiles and concurrently collected geochemical context into a multivariate model to examine correlations between stream geochemistry and microbial functional potential. Integrating the metagenomes with full geochemical profiles emphasised that even low metalloid concentrations shaped microbial functionality, seasonal shifts in copper bioavailability and arsenic exposure correlated with genetic variation, and copper resistomes were spatiotemporally distinct. This study provides new insights into microbial metabolic potential and microbe-metal(loid) interactions.
Authors: Paul G Helfrich, Johnathan Feldman, Eva Andrade‐Barahona, Isaiah Robertson, Jordan Foster, Renee Hofacker, Gavin Dahlquist Selking, Cody S Sheik, Alysia Cox
Language: English
Subfield: Ecology
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,000
OpenAlex ID: W4404753868