title: Community structure and elevational diversity patterns of soil Acidobacteria.
abstract: Acidobacteria is one of the most dominant and abundant phyla in soil, and was believed to have a wide range of metabolic and genetic functions. Relatively little is known about its community structure and elevational diversity patterns. We selected four elevation gradients from 1000 to 2800 m with typical vegetation types of the northern slope of Shennongjia Mountain in central China. The vegetation types were evergreen broadleaved forest, deciduous broadleaved forest, coniferous forest and sub-alpine shrubs. We analyzed the soil acidobacterial community composition, elevational patterns and the relationship between Acidobacteria subdivisions and soil enzyme activities by using the 16S rRNA meta-sequencing technique and multivariate statistical analysis. The result found that 19 known subdivisions as well as an unclassified phylotype were presented in these forest sites, and Subdivision 6 has the highest number of detectable operational taxonomic units (OTUs). A significant single peak distribution pattern (P<0.05) between the OTU number and the elevation was observed. The Jaccard and Bray-Curtis index analysis showed that the soil Acidobacteria compositional similarity significantly decreased (P<0.01) with the increase in elevation distance. Mantel test analysis showed the most of the soil Acidobacteria subdivisions had the significant relationship (P<0.01) with different soil enzymes. Therefore, soil Acidobacteria may be involved in different ecosystem functions in global elemental cycles. Partial Mantel tests and CCA analysis showed that soil pH, soil temperature and plant diversity may be the key factors in shaping the soil Acidobacterial community structure.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Forestry Ecology, Environment and Protection, Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Environment of State Forestry Administration, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China. Electronic address: yugzhang@sina.com.
authors.forename: Yuguang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Forestry Ecology, Environment and Protection, Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Environment of State Forestry Administration, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China; School of Mineral Processing and Bioengineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cong
authors.affiliation: Institute of Forestry Ecology, Environment and Protection, Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Environment of State Forestry Administration, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Institute of Forestry Ecology, Environment and Protection, Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Environment of State Forestry Administration, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China.
authors.forename: Guangliang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Institute for Environmental Genomics, Department of Botany and Microbiology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019, United States.
authors.forename: Yuanyuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Qu
authors.affiliation: Hunan Baiyunshan National Nature Reserve, Baojing 416500, China.
authors.forename: Xiujiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Su
authors.affiliation: Institute for Environmental Genomics, Department of Botany and Microbiology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019, United States.
authors.forename: Jizhong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Institute of Forestry Ecology, Environment and Protection, Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Environment of State Forestry Administration, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing 100091, China. Electronic address: lidq@caf.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Diqiang
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D061271:Acidobacteria / Q000235:genetics*; D000531:Altitude; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D003710:Demography; D014644:Genetic Variation; D012988:Soil Microbiology; D013045:Species Specificity
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial
keywords: Acidobacterial subdivision; Driving factor; Elevational pattern; Environmental change; Potential metabolic activity; Soil pH