Persistent functional and taxonomic groups dominate an 8,000-year sedimentary sequence from Lake Cadagno, Switzerland
Most of our knowledge of deep sedimentary life comes from marine environments; however, despite their relatively small volume, lacustrine sediments constitute one of the largest global carbon sinks and their deep sediments are largely unexplored. Here, we reconstruct the microbial functional and tax...
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2025-02-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Microbiology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2025.1504355/full |
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| author | Paula Rodriguez Jasmine S. Berg Longhui Deng Longhui Deng Hendrik Vogel Michal Okoniewski Mark A. Lever Mark A. Lever Cara Magnabosco |
| author_facet | Paula Rodriguez Jasmine S. Berg Longhui Deng Longhui Deng Hendrik Vogel Michal Okoniewski Mark A. Lever Mark A. Lever Cara Magnabosco |
| author_sort | Paula Rodriguez |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Most of our knowledge of deep sedimentary life comes from marine environments; however, despite their relatively small volume, lacustrine sediments constitute one of the largest global carbon sinks and their deep sediments are largely unexplored. Here, we reconstruct the microbial functional and taxonomic composition of an 8,000-year Holocene sedimentary succession from meromictic Lake Cadagno (Switzerland) using shotgun metagenomics and 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. While younger sediments (<1,000 years) are dominated by typical anaerobic surface sedimentary bacterial taxa (Deltaproteobacteria, Acidobacteria, and Firmicutes), older layers with lower organic matter concentrations and reduced terminal electron acceptor availability are dominated by taxa previously identified as “persistent populations” within deep anoxic marine sediments (Candidatus Bathyarchaeia, Chloroflexi, and Atribacteria). Despite these dramatic changes in taxonomic community composition and sediment geochemistry throughout the sediment core, higher-order functional categories and metabolic marker gene abundances remain relatively consistent and indicate a microbial community capable of carbon fixation, fermentation, dissimilatory sulfate reduction and dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium. As the conservation of these metabolic pathways through changes in microbial community compositions helps preserve the metabolic pathway connectivity required for nutrient cycling, we hypothesize that the persistence of these functional groups helps enable the Lake Cadagno sedimentary communities persist amidst changing environmental conditions. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-b2628b6bd9ff49f7ae91f76b5669e00a |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1664-302X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-02-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Microbiology |
| spelling | doaj-art-b2628b6bd9ff49f7ae91f76b5669e00a2025-02-07T09:50:10ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Microbiology1664-302X2025-02-011610.3389/fmicb.2025.15043551504355Persistent functional and taxonomic groups dominate an 8,000-year sedimentary sequence from Lake Cadagno, SwitzerlandPaula Rodriguez0Jasmine S. Berg1Longhui Deng2Longhui Deng3Hendrik Vogel4Michal Okoniewski5Mark A. Lever6Mark A. Lever7Cara Magnabosco8Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, ETH Zurich, Zurich, SwitzerlandFaculty of Geosciences and Environment, Université de Lausanne, Lausanne, SwitzerlandInstitute for Biogeochemistry and Pollutant Dynamics, ETH Zurich, Zurich, SwitzerlandSchool of Oceanography, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, ChinaOeschger Centre for Climate Change Research, Institute of Geological Sciences, University of Bern, Bern, SwitzerlandID Scientific IT Services, ETH Zurich, Zurich, SwitzerlandInstitute for Biogeochemistry and Pollutant Dynamics, ETH Zurich, Zurich, SwitzerlandCollege of Natural Sciences, Marine Science Institute, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United StatesDepartment of Earth and Planetary Sciences, ETH Zurich, Zurich, SwitzerlandMost of our knowledge of deep sedimentary life comes from marine environments; however, despite their relatively small volume, lacustrine sediments constitute one of the largest global carbon sinks and their deep sediments are largely unexplored. Here, we reconstruct the microbial functional and taxonomic composition of an 8,000-year Holocene sedimentary succession from meromictic Lake Cadagno (Switzerland) using shotgun metagenomics and 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. While younger sediments (<1,000 years) are dominated by typical anaerobic surface sedimentary bacterial taxa (Deltaproteobacteria, Acidobacteria, and Firmicutes), older layers with lower organic matter concentrations and reduced terminal electron acceptor availability are dominated by taxa previously identified as “persistent populations” within deep anoxic marine sediments (Candidatus Bathyarchaeia, Chloroflexi, and Atribacteria). Despite these dramatic changes in taxonomic community composition and sediment geochemistry throughout the sediment core, higher-order functional categories and metabolic marker gene abundances remain relatively consistent and indicate a microbial community capable of carbon fixation, fermentation, dissimilatory sulfate reduction and dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium. As the conservation of these metabolic pathways through changes in microbial community compositions helps preserve the metabolic pathway connectivity required for nutrient cycling, we hypothesize that the persistence of these functional groups helps enable the Lake Cadagno sedimentary communities persist amidst changing environmental conditions.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2025.1504355/fulldeep lacustrine sedimentsfunctional potentialmicrobial communitiesbiogeochemical cyclingmetagenomics |
| spellingShingle | Paula Rodriguez Jasmine S. Berg Longhui Deng Longhui Deng Hendrik Vogel Michal Okoniewski Mark A. Lever Mark A. Lever Cara Magnabosco Persistent functional and taxonomic groups dominate an 8,000-year sedimentary sequence from Lake Cadagno, Switzerland Frontiers in Microbiology deep lacustrine sediments functional potential microbial communities biogeochemical cycling metagenomics |
| title | Persistent functional and taxonomic groups dominate an 8,000-year sedimentary sequence from Lake Cadagno, Switzerland |
| title_full | Persistent functional and taxonomic groups dominate an 8,000-year sedimentary sequence from Lake Cadagno, Switzerland |
| title_fullStr | Persistent functional and taxonomic groups dominate an 8,000-year sedimentary sequence from Lake Cadagno, Switzerland |
| title_full_unstemmed | Persistent functional and taxonomic groups dominate an 8,000-year sedimentary sequence from Lake Cadagno, Switzerland |
| title_short | Persistent functional and taxonomic groups dominate an 8,000-year sedimentary sequence from Lake Cadagno, Switzerland |
| title_sort | persistent functional and taxonomic groups dominate an 8 000 year sedimentary sequence from lake cadagno switzerland |
| topic | deep lacustrine sediments functional potential microbial communities biogeochemical cycling metagenomics |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2025.1504355/full |
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