[metagenomics-jclub] Permafrost metagenomics paper

[Adina Chuang Howe]

FYI.

Hot off the press from JGI collaborators of the Great Prairie Project.

Cheers,
Adina

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Metagenomic analysis of a permafrost microbial community reveals a
rapid response to thaw

Rachel Mackelprang,	 Mark P. Waldrop,	 Kristen M. DeAngelis,	 Maude M.
David,	 Krystle L. Chavarria, Steven J. Blazewicz,	 Edward M. Rubin	 &
Janet K. Jansson

Permafrost contains an estimated 1672 Pg carbon (C), an amount roughly
equivalent to the total currently contained within land plants and the
atmosphere1, 2, 3. This reservoir of C is vulnerable to decomposition
as rising global temperatures cause the permafrost to thaw2. During
thaw, trapped organic matter may become more accessible for microbial
degradation and result in greenhouse gas emissions4, 5. Despite recent
advances in the use of molecular tools to study permafrost microbial
communities6, 7, 8, 9, their response to thaw remains unclear. Here we
use deep metagenomic sequencing to determine the impact of thaw on
microbial phylogenetic and functional genes, and relate these data to
measurements of methane emissions. Metagenomics, the direct sequencing
of DNA from the environment, allows the examination of whole
biochemical pathways and associated processes, as opposed to
individual pieces of the metabolic puzzle. Our metagenome analyses
reveal that during transition from a frozen to a thawed state there
are rapid shifts in many microbial, phylogenetic and functional gene
abundances and pathways. After one week of incubation at 5 °C,
permafrost metagenomes converge to be more similar to each other than
while they are frozen. We find that multiple genes involved in cycling
of C and nitrogen shift rapidly during thaw. We also construct the
first draft genome from a complex soil metagenome, which corresponds
to a novel methanogen. Methane previously accumulated in permafrost is
released during thaw and subsequently consumed by methanotrophic
bacteria. Together these data point towards the importance of rapid
cycling of methane and nitrogen in thawing permafrost.
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