Distinct bacterial community structures and arsenic biotransformation gene profiles in dust

TL;DR

This study explores how dust contains unique bacterial communities and arsenic-related genes, with soil being their main source, and highlights the role of Acetobacteraceae in arsenic transformation.

Contribution

The study reveals distinct bacterial and arsenic gene profiles in dust and identifies Acetobacteraceae as a key player in arsenic biotransformation.

Findings

Dust samples showed significantly different bacterial community structures and ABG profiles compared to soil and seawater.

Soil was identified as the primary source of bacterial communities and ABGs in dust using FEAST analysis.

Acetobacteraceae was found to be a keystone taxon in dust and harbored multiple arsenic biotransformation genes.

Abstract

Microorganisms, which are ubiquitous in the environment, have evolved a diverse array of arsenic biotransformation genes (ABGs). Dust harbors a wide range of microorganisms. However, the distinct characteristics of bacterial community structures and ABG profiles in dust, compared with those in other environments such as soil and water, remain poorly understood.

In this study, dust samples were simultaneously collected alongside surrounding soil and seawater samples in Xiamen, a coastal city of China, to investigate the distinct profiles and potential sources of bacterial communities and ABGs in dust using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing and metagenomic sequencing.

Abundant and diverse bacterial communities and ABGs were detected in dust, revealing significant differences in community structures and ABG profiles compared with those in soil and seawater. Soil was identified as the primary source for both bacterial communities and ABGs in dust through fast expectation–maximization microbial source tracking (FEAST). Acetobacteraceae, which showed significantly greater relative abundance (p < 0.001) in dust than in soil and seawater, was also identified as a keystone taxon in the dust bacterial co-occurrence network. Furthermore, metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) affiliated with Acetobacteraceae were effectively recovered from dust via metagenomic binning, and these MAGs harbored an array of ABGs, indicating that Acetobacteraceae could be important hosts for ABGs in dust. Overall, our findings offer new insights into bacterial communities and ABGs in dust, thereby improving our understanding of arsenic biogeochemical cycling.

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