Patterns of Endemism and Habitat Selection in Coalbed Microbial Communities.
Microbially produced methane, a versatile, cleaner-burning alternative energy resource to fossil fuels, is sourced from a variety of natural and engineered ecosystems, including marine sediments, anaerobic digesters, shales, and coalbeds. There is a prevailing interest in developing environmental biotechnologies to enhance methane production. Here, we use small-subunit rRNA gene sequencing and metagenomics to better describe the interplay between coalbed methane (CBM) well conditions and microbial communities in the Alberta Basin. Our results show that CBM microbial community structures display patterns of endemism and habitat selection across the Alberta Basin, consistent with observations from other geographical locations. While some phylum-level taxonomic patterns were observed, relative abundances of specific taxonomic groups were localized to discrete wells, likely shaped by local environmental conditions, such as coal rank and depth-dependent physicochemical conditions. To better resolve functional potential within the CBM milieu, a metagenome from a deep volatile-bituminous coal sample was generated. This sample was dominated by Rhodobacteraceae genotypes, resolving a near-complete population genome bin related to Celeribacter sp. that encoded metabolic pathways for the degradation of a wide range of aromatic compounds and the production of methanogenic substrates via acidogenic fermentation. Genomic comparisons between the Celeribacter sp. population genome and related organisms isolated from different environments reflected habitat-specific selection pressures that included nitrogen availability and the ability to utilize diverse carbon substrates. Taken together, our observations reveal that both endemism and metabolic specialization should be considered in the development of biostimulation strategies for nonproductive wells or for those with declining productivity.
MetaMixis Biologics, Inc., Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Christopher E
CE
Lawson
MetaMixis Biologics, Inc., Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Cameron R
CR
Strachan
MetaMixis Biologics, Inc., Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Dominique D
DD
Williams
Environment and Carbon Management Division, Alberta Innovates-Technology Futures, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Susan
S
Koziel
MetaMixis Biologics, Inc., Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Graduate Program in Bioinformatics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Steven J
SJ
Hallam
Environment and Carbon Management Division, Alberta Innovates-Technology Futures, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada Karen.Budwill@albertainnovates.ca.
Karen
K
Budwill
D000416:Alberta; D001105:Archaea / Q000235:genetics*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000235:genetics*; D003031:Coal / Q000382:microbiology*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D017753:Ecosystem; D020745:Genome, Archaeal; D016680:Genome, Bacterial; D054892:Metagenome; D056186:Metagenomics; D008906:Mining; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
D003031:Coal; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S