Computational improvements reveal great bacterial diversity and high metal toxicity in soil.
The complexity of soil bacterial communities has thus far confounded effective measurement. However, with improved analytical methods, we show that the abundance distribution and total diversity can be deciphered. Reanalysis of reassociation kinetics for bacterial community DNA from pristine and metal-polluted soils showed that a power law best described the abundance distributions. More than one million distinct genomes occurred in the pristine soil, exceeding previous estimates by two orders of magnitude. Metal pollution reduced diversity more than 99.9%, revealing the highly toxic effect of metal contamination, especially for rare taxa.
Gans
Jason
J
Bioscience Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87501, USA.
Wolinsky
Murray
M
Dunbar
John
J
D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development*; D044822:Biodiversity; D018533:Biomass; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics; D017753:Ecosystem; D014644:Genetic Variation; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D008433:Mathematics; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis / Q000633:toxicity*; D008954:Models, Biological; D009695:Nucleic Acid Renaturation; D012987:Soil / Q000032:analysis; D012988:Soil Microbiology; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000032:analysis / Q000633:toxicity*
D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D019216:Metals, Heavy; D012987:Soil; D012989:Soil Pollutants