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Vertical profiles of microbial communities in perfluoroalkyl substance-contaminated soils

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Abstract

Poly- and perfluoroalkyl compounds (PFASs) are ubiquitous in the environment, but their influences on microbial community remain poorly known. The present study investigated the depth-related changes of archaeal and bacterial communities in PFAS-contaminated soils. The abundance and structure of microbial community were characterized using quantitative PCR and high-throughput sequencing, respectively. Microbial abundance changed considerably with soil depth. The richness and diversity of both bacterial and archaeal communities increased with soil depth. At each depth, bacterial community was more abundant and had higher richness and diversity than archaeal community. The structure of either bacterial or archaeal community displayed distinct vertical variations. Moreover, a higher content of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) could have a negative impact on bacterial richness and diversity. The rise of soil organic carbon content could increase bacterial abundance but lower the richness and diversity of both bacterial and archaeal communities. In addition, Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Chloroflexi, Cyanobacteria, and Acidobacteria were the major bacterial groups, while Thaumarchaeota, Euryarchaeota, and unclassified Archaea dominated in soil archaeal communities. PFASs could influence soil microbial community.

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Funding

This research was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 21477060), Tsinghua University Initiative Scientific Research Program (No. 20131089251), and special fund of State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control (No. 17Y01ESPCP), and Major Science and Technology Program for Water Pollution Control and Treatment in China (No. 2017ZX07202004).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environment, Beijing Key Laboratory for Emerging Organic Contaminants Control (BKLEOC), State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control (SKLESPC), Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China

    Yixiang Bao & Jun Huang

  2. State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China

    Bingxin Li & Shuguang Xie

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  1. Yixiang Bao
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  2. Bingxin Li
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Correspondence to Shuguang Xie or Jun Huang.

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Bao, Y., Li, B., Xie, S. et al. Vertical profiles of microbial communities in perfluoroalkyl substance-contaminated soils. Ann Microbiol 68, 399–408 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13213-018-1346-y

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