Structure and Functional Properties of Bacterial Communities in Surface Sediments of the Recently Declared Nutrient-Saturated Lake Villarrica in Southern Chile

• Published in: Microbial ecology Vol. 86; no. 3; pp. 1513 - 1533
• Main Authors: Campos, Marco A., Zhang, Qian, Acuña, Jacquelinne J., Rilling, Joaquin I., Ruiz, Tay, Carrazana, Elizabeth, Reyno, Cristóbal, Hollenback, Anthony, Gray, Katelyn, Jaisi, Deb P., Ogram, Andrew, Bai, Junhong, Zhang, Ling, Xiao, Rong, Elias, Mikael, Sadowsky, Michael J, Hu, Jingming, Jorquera, Milko A.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.10.2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Ammonia; Ammonia-oxidizing bacteria; Analysis; Anthropogenic factors; Bacteria; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Cycles; Decontamination; Denitrification; DNA sequences; DNA sequencing; Ecology; Environmental factors; Freshwater; Functional analysis; Genes; Geoecology/Natural Processes; Inland water environment; Lake deposits; Lake sediments; Lakes; Life Sciences; Microbial Ecology; Microbiology; Microorganisms; Nature Conservation; Nitrification; Nitrogen; Nucleotide sequence; Nutrients; Original Article; Oxidation; Parameters; PCR; Phosphorus; Physicochemical processes; Physicochemical properties; Polymerase chain reaction; Redundancy; Sediment; Sediments; Water Quality/Water Pollution; Chile; Community structure; Nutrients; Bacterial communities; Lake sediments; Bacterial diversity; Functional genes
• ISSN: 0095-3628; 1432-184X
• DOI: 10.1007/s00248-023-02173-2

Lake Villarrica, one of Chile’s main freshwater water bodies, was recently declared a nutrient-saturated lake due to increased phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) levels. Although a decontamination plan based on environmental parameters is being established, it does not consider microbial parameters. Here, we conducted high-throughput DNA sequencing and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) analyses to reveal the structure and functional properties of bacterial communities in surface sediments collected from sites with contrasting anthropogenic pressures in Lake Villarrica. Alpha diversity revealed an elevated bacterial richness and diversity in the more anthropogenized sediments. The phylum Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Acidobacteria, and Actinobacteria dominated the community. The principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) and redundancy analysis (RDA) showed significant differences in bacterial communities of sampling sites. Predicted functional analysis showed that N cycling functions (e.g., nitrification and denitrification) were significant. The microbial co-occurrence networks analysis suggested Chitinophagaceae , Caldilineaceae , Planctomycetaceae , and Phycisphaerae families as keystone taxa. Bacterial functional genes related to P ( phoC , phoD , and phoX ) and N ( nifH and nosZ ) cycling were detected in all samples by qPCR. In addition, an RDA related to N and P cycling revealed that physicochemical properties and functional genes were positively correlated with several nitrite-oxidizing, ammonia-oxidizing, and N-fixing bacterial genera. Finally, denitrifying gene ( nosZ ) was the most significant factor influencing the topological characteristics of co-occurrence networks and bacterial interactions. Our results represent one of a few approaches to elucidate the structure and role of bacterial communities in Chilean lake sediments, which might be helpful in conservation and decontamination plans.