Qualitative and quantitative characteristics of soil microbiome of barents sea coast, Kola Peninsula

The soil microbiome of the Barents Sea coast of the Kola Peninsula is here characterized for the first time. The content of copies of ribosomal genes of archaea, bacteria, and fungi was determined by real-time PCR. Reserves and structure of biomass of soil microorganisms such as total biomass of fungi and prokaryotes, length and diameter of mycelium of fungi and actinomycetes, proportion of mycelium in biomass, number of spores and prokaryotic cells, proportion of small and large fungal propagules, and morphology of mycobiota spores were determined. The largest number of ribosomal gene copies was found for bacteria (from 6.47 × 109 to 3.02 × 1011 per g soil). The number of copies of ribosomal genes of fungi and archaea varied within 107–109 copies of genes/g soil. The biomass of microorganisms (prokaryotes and fungi in total) varied from 0.023 to 0.840 mg/g soil. The share of mycobiota in the microbial biomass ranged from 90% to 97%. The number of prokaryotes was not large and varied from 1.87 × 108 to 1.40 × 109 cells/g of soil, while the biomass of fungi was very significant and varied from 0.021 to 0.715 mg/g of soil. The length of actinomycete mycelium was small—from 0.77 to 88.18 m/g of soil, as was the length of fungal hy-phae—an order of magnitude higher (up to 504.22 m/g of soil). The proportion of fungal mycelium, an active component of fungal biomass, varied from 25% to 89%. Most (from 65% to 100%) of my-cobiota propagules were represented by specimens of small sizes, 2–3 microns. Thus, it is shown that, despite the extreme position on the mainland land of Fennoscandia, local soils had a significant number of microorganisms, on which the productivity of ecosystems largely depends. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

Status of soil microscopic fungi complexes in the area of impact aerotechnogenic emissions from Kandalaksha aluminum plant

It has been performed comparative analysis of changes in the soil properties and in the soil mycobiota that had occurred over the last 10 years on the gradient of airborne pollution emissions Kandalaksha aluminum plant in connection with reduction their volume. The concentration of priority pollutant fluorine compounds in atmospheric precipitation and in the soil organic horizons was a significantly lower in 2011 compared to 2001 year in the impact plant zone. At present, the species composition of the microscopic fungi complexes represented by 31 species. 60 % of the selected species are found in both the study period. There was decreased acidity of litter almost 2 pH units near the plant at a distance of 2 km. Plant emissions still caused inhibition of fungal biota as the method of planting and the method of direct calculation. Over the 10-year period there was a significant change of the dominant species.Работа выполнена при финансовой поддержке РФФИ (проект 12–04–00547_a)

Diversity and Source of Airborne Microbial Communities at Differential Polluted Sites of Rome

Biogenic fraction of airborne PM10 which includes bacteria, viruses, fungi and pollens, has been proposed as one of the potential causes of the PM10 toxicity. The present study aimed to pro-vide a comprehensive understanding of the microbial community variations associated to PM10, and their main local sources in the surrounding environment in three urban sites of Rome, characterized by differential pollution rate: green area, residential area and polluted area close to the traffic roads. We combined high-throughput amplicon sequencing of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene and the fungal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region, with detailed chemical analysis of particulate matter sam-pled from air, paved road surfaces and leaf surfaces of Quercus ilex. Our results demonstrated that bacterial and fungal airborne communities were characterized by the highest alpha-diversity and grouped separately from epiphytic and road dust communities. The reconstruction of source-sink relationships revealed that the resuspension/deposition of road dust from traffic might contribute to the maximum magnitude of microbial exchanges. The relative abundance of extremotolerant microbes was found to be enhanced in epiphytic communities and was associated to a progressively increase of pollution levels as well as opportunistic human pathogenicity in fungal communities. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

CARBON AND NITROGEN CONTENT AND RESERVES IN TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS OF THE MURMANSK REGION

The article provides an overview of own and literature data on phytomass reserves, carbon and nitrogen content, diversity of soil fauna and mycobiota in terrestrial ecosystems of the Murmansk region under conditions of combined action of natural and anthropogenic factors. The environmental factors determining the functioning of ecosystems, including the regulation of carbon cycles, are considered. It is shown that in representative spruce and pine forests, the concentrations and precipitation of carbon compounds from the atmosphere and its removal from soil waters are higher in the subcron spaces than in the intercron spaces. In soil waters, there is a decrease in carbon removal with the depth of the soil profile. The podzols are characterized by a bimodal distribution of humus over the soil profile with maxima in the organogenic and illuvial horizons. The carbon content in the organogenic horizon of the soils of spruce and pine forests varies from 12 to 54%, nitrogen — from 4.7 to 18.7 g/kg. The main carbon reserves in the organogenic horizon of forest soils are concentrated in the sub-crown spaces and reach 27–34 t/ha. Carbon reserves in the meter layer of soil (mineral horizons) are 47–60 t/ha. The phytomass reserves of the North taiga forests are characterized by low values (12–188 t/ha). Significant reserves of plant organic matter of the North Taiga forests are concentrated in the ground cover. The carbon content in the assimilating organs (leaves/needles, shoots) of plants of the North Taiga forests varies from 35 to 73%, nitrogen — from 5.4 to 23.6 g/kg. The rate of decomposition of plant residues and carbon loss during the decomposition of the fall of evergreen plants in spruce forests is higher than in pine forests, as are the indicators of the number of soil macrofauna. The podzols of the North Taiga forests correspond to the predominance of secondary destroyers of plant litter — humifiers of earthworms and mixophages wireworms, litter mollusks) and the absence of calcifilic groups of mineralizers (woodlice, bipedal millipedes). 122 species of microscopic fungi have been isolated from the soils of the Murmansk region. Species of pp. Penicillium and Umbelopsis were dominant in terms of abundance in the background soil, in anthropogenically altered soils — species of pp. Aureobasidium, Penicillium, Trichocladium, Trichoderma and Umbelopsis

Microbial Communities of Seawater and Coastal Soil of Russian Arctic Region and Their Potential for Bioremediation from Hydrocarbon Pollutants

The development of Arctic regions leads to pollution of marine and coastal environments with oil and petroleum products. The purpose of this work was to determine the diversity of microbial communities in seawater, as well as in littoral and coastal soil, and the potential ability of their members to degrade hydrocarbons degradation and to isolate oil-degrading bacteria. Using high-throughput sequencing of the V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene, the dominance of bacteria in polar communities was shown, the proportion of archaea did not exceed 2% (of the total number of sequences in the libraries). Archaea inhabiting the seawater belonged to the genera Nitrosopumilus and Nitrosoarchaeum and to the Nitrososphaeraceae family. In the polluted samples, members of the Gammaproteobacteria, Alphaproteobacteria, and Actinomycetes classes predominated; bacteria of the classes Bacteroidia, Clostridia, Acidimicrobiia, Planctomycetia, and Deltaproteobacteria were less represented. Using the iVikodak program and KEGG database, the potential functional characteristics of the studied prokaryotic communities were predicted. Bacteria were potentially involved in nitrogen and sulfur cycles, in degradation of benzoate, terephthalate, fatty acids, and alkanes. A total of 19 strains of bacteria of the genera Pseudomonas, Aeromonas, Oceanisphaera, Shewanella, Paeniglutamicibacter, and Rhodococcus were isolated from the studied samples. Among them were psychrotolerant and psychrophilic bacteria growing in seawater and utilizing crude oil, diesel fuel, and motor oils. The data obtained suggest that the studied microbial communities could participate in the removal of hydrocarbons from arctic seawater and coastal soils and suggested the possibility of the application of the isolates for the bioaugmentation of oil-contaminated polar environments