Distinct ecological niches and community dynamics: understanding free-living and particle-attached bacterial communities in an oligotrophic deep lake.

Oligotrophic deep-water lakes are unique and sensitive ecosystems with limited nutrient availability. Understanding bacterial communities within these lakes is crucial for assessing ecosystem health, biogeochemical cycling, and responses to environmental changes. In this study, we investigated the seasonal and vertical dynamics of both free-living (FL) and particle-attached (PA) bacteria in Lake Fuxian, a typical oligotrophic deep freshwater lake in southeast China. Our findings revealed distinct seasonal and vertical dynamics of FL and PA bacterial communities, driven by similar physiochemical environmental factors. PA bacteria exhibited higher α- and ß-diversity and were enriched with Proteobacteria, Cyanobacteria, Firmicutes, Patescibacteria, Planctomycetota, and Verrucomicrobiota, while FL bacteria were enriched with Actinobacteria and Bacteroidota. FL bacteria showed enrichment in putative functions related to chemoheterotrophy and aerobic anoxygenic photosynthesis, whereas the PA fraction was enriched with intracellular parasites (mainly contributed by Rickettsiales, Chlamydiales, and Legionellales) and nitrogen metabolism functions. Deterministic processes predominantly shaped the assembly of both FL and PA bacterial communities, with stochastic processes playing a greater role in the FL fraction. Network analysis revealed extensive species interactions, with a higher proportion of positively correlated edges in the PA network, indicating mutualistic or cooperative interactions. Cyanobium, Comamonadaceae, and Roseomonas were identified as keystone taxa in the PA network, underscoring potential cooperation between autotrophic and heterotrophic bacteria in organic particle microhabitats. Overall, the disparities in bacterial diversity, community composition, putative function, and network characteristics between FL and PA fractions highlight their adaptation to distinct ecological niches within these unique lake ecosystems.IMPORTANCEUnderstanding the diversity of microbial communities, their assembly mechanisms, and their responses to environmental changes is fundamental to the study of aquatic microbial ecology. Oligotrophic deep-water lakes are fragile ecosystems with limited nutrient resources, rendering them highly susceptible to environmental fluctuations. Examining different bacterial types within these lakes offers valuable insights into the intricate mechanisms governing community dynamics and adaptation strategies across various scales. In our investigation of oligotrophic deep freshwater Lake Fuxian in China, we explored the seasonal and vertical dynamics of two bacterial types: free-living (FL) and particle-attached (PA). Our findings unveiled distinct patterns in the diversity, composition, and putative functions of these bacteria, all shaped by environmental factors. Understanding these subtleties provides insight into bacterial interactions, thereby influencing the overall ecosystem functioning. Ultimately, our research illuminates the adaptation and roles of FL and PA bacteria within these unique lake environments, contributing significantly to our broader comprehension of ecosystem stability and health.

Beyond the Bloom: Unraveling the Diversity, Overlap, and Stability of Free-Living and Particle-Attached Bacterial Communities in a Cyanobacteria-Dominated Hypereutrophic Lake.

In aquatic ecosystems with low nutrient levels, organic aggregates (OAs) act as nutrient hotspots, hosting a diverse range of microbial species compared to those in the water column. Lake eutrophication, marked by intensified and prolonged cyanobacterial blooms, significantly impacts material and energy cycling processes, potentially altering the ecological traits of both free-living (FL) and particle-attached (PA) bacteria. However, the extent to which observed patterns of FL and PA bacterial diversity, community assembly, and stability extend to hypereutrophic lakes remains understudied. To address this gap, we investigated bacterial diversity, composition, assembly processes, and stability within hypereutrophic Lake Xingyun. Our results revealed that FL bacterial communities exhibited higher α-diversity than PA counterparts, coupled with discernible taxonomic compositions. Both bacterial communities showed distinct seasonality, influenced by cyanobacterial bloom intensity. Environmental factors accounted for 71.1% and 54.2% of the variation among FL and PA bacteria, respectively. The assembly of the PA bacterial community was predominantly stochastic, while FL assembly was more deterministic. The FL network demonstrated greater stability, complexity, and negative interactions, indicative of competitive relationships, while the PA network showed a prevalence of positive correlations, suggesting mutualistic interactions. Importantly, these findings differ from observations in oligotrophic, mesotrophic, and eutrophic lakes. Overall, this research provides valuable insights into the interplay among bacterial fractions, enhancing our understanding of nutrient status and cyanobacterial blooms in shaping bacterial communities.

Sediment DNA Records the Critical Transition of Bacterial Communities in the Arid Lake.

It is necessary to predict the critical transition of lake ecosystems due to their abrupt, non-linear effects on social-economic systems. Given the promising application of paleolimnological archives to tracking the historical changes of lake ecosystems, it is speculated that they can also record the lake's critical transition. We studied Lake Dali-Nor in the arid region of Inner Mongolia because of the profound shrinking the lake experienced between the 1300 s and the 1600 s. We reconstructed the succession of bacterial communities from a 140-cm-long sediment core at 4-cm intervals and detected the critical transition. Our results showed that the historical trajectory of bacterial communities from the 1200 s to the 2010s was divided into two alternative states: state1 from 1200 to 1300 s and state2 from 1400 to 2010s. Furthermore, in the late 1300 s, the appearance of a tipping point and critical slowing down implied the existence of a critical transition. By using a multi-decadal time series from the sedimentary core, with general Lotka-Volterra model simulations, local stability analysis found that bacterial communities were the most unstable as they approached the critical transition, suggesting that the collapse of stability triggers the community shift from an equilibrium state to another state. Furthermore, the most unstable community harbored the strongest antagonistic and mutualistic interactions, which may imply the detrimental role of interaction strength on community stability. Collectively, our study showed that sediment DNA can be used to detect the critical transition of lake ecosystems.

Eutrophication diminishes bacterioplankton functional dissimilarity and network complexity while enhancing stability: Implications for the management of eutrophic lakes.

Eutrophication is a growing environmental concern in lake ecosystems globally, significantly impacting the structures and ecological functions of bacterioplankton communities and posing a substantial threat to the stability of lake ecosystems. However, the patterns of functional dissimilarity, network complexity, and stability within bacterioplankton communities across different trophic states, along with the underlying mechanisms through which eutrophication influences these aspects, are not well-understood. To bridge this knowledge gap, we collected 88 samples from 34 lakes spanning trophic gradients and investigated bacterioplankton communities using network analysis and multiple statistical methods. Our results reveal that eutrophication, progressing from mesotrophic to hyper-eutrophic states, reduces the putative functional dissimilarity of bacterioplankton, particularly affecting the relative proportions of functional groups such as oxygenic photoautotrophy, phototrophy, and photoautotrophy. Network complexity exhibited a unimodal pattern across increasing trophic states, peaking at mesotrophic states and then decreasing towards hyper-eutrophic conditions, while stability exhibited the opposite pattern (U-shaped), indicating a variation in response to trophic state changes. In essence, eutrophication diminishes network complexity but enhances network stability. Collectively, these findings shed light on the ecological impact of eutrophication on bacterioplankton communities and elucidate the potential mechanisms by which eutrophication drives functional dissimilarity, network complexity and stability within bacterioplankton communities. These insights carry significant implications for the ecological management of eutrophic lakes.

Warming reduces microeukaryotic diversity, network complexity and stability.

Unraveling how climate warming affects microorganisms and the underlying mechanisms has been a hot topic in climate change and microbial ecology. To date, many studies have reported microbial responses to climate warming, especially in soil ecosystems, however, knowledge of how warming influences microeukaryotic diversity, network complexity and stability in lake ecosystems, in particular the possible underlying mechanisms, is largely unknown. To address this gap, we conducted 20 mesocosms spanning five temperature scenarios (26 °C, 27.5 °C, 29 °C, 30.5 °C, and 32 °C) in Lake Bosten, a hotspot for studying climate change, and investigated microeukaryotic communities using 18S rRNA gene sequencing. Our results demonstrated that warming, time, and their interactions significantly reduced microeukaryotic α-diversity (two-way ANOVA: P＜0.01). Although warming did not significantly affect microeukaryotic community structure (ANOSIM: P＞0.05), it enhanced species turnover. Microeukaryotic networks exhibited distinct co-occurrence patterns and topological properties across temperature scenarios. Warming reduced network complexity and stability, as well as altered species interactions. Collectively, these findings are likely to have implications for ecological management of lake ecosystems, in particular semi-arid and arid regions, and for predicting ecological consequences of climate change.

Patterns of free-living and particle-attached bacteria along environmental gradients in Lake Taihu.

To elucidate the effects of environmental heterogeneity on diversity, composition, and degree of overlap between free-living (FL) and particle-attached (PA) bacteria, we sampled large, shallow, eutrophic Lake Taihu, China across gradients spanning riverine inflow, cyanobacterial blooms, and the open limnetic area. Using high-throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene, we show that (i) bacterial communities near riverine inflow had high α-diversity and a high degree of overlap between FL and PA lifestyles, (ii) communities in cyanobacterial blooms have reduced α-diversity within the PA lifestyle, and (iii) communities from the limnetic area had the lowest bacterial α-diversity within the FL lifestyle and a medium degree of overlap between the FL and PA lifestyles. Redundancy analysis showed that the variation of the FL bacterial community was shaped by suspended solids and total phosphorous, while the variation of the PA bacterial community was shaped by suspended solids, dissolved oxygen, and the percentage of organic matter in suspended solids. This study highlights the importance of environmental heterogeneity, riverine input, cyanobacterial blooms, and nutrient status on the spatial distribution patterns of FL and PA bacterial communities in freshwater lakes.

Effects of climate change and anthropogenic activities on lake environmental dynamics: A case study in Lake Bosten Catchment, NW China.

Arid and semiarid regions account for âˆ¼ 40% of the world's land area. Rivers and lakes in these regions provide sparse, but valuable, water resources for the fragile environments, and play a vital role in the development and sustainability of local societies. During the late 1980s, the climate of arid and semiarid northwest China dramatically changed from "warm-dry" to "warm-wet". Understanding how these environmental changes and anthropogenic activities affect water quantity and quality is critically important for protecting aquatic ecosystems and determining the best use of freshwater resources. Lake Bosten is the largest inland freshwater lake in NW China and has experienced inter-conversion between freshwater and brackish status. Herein, we explored the long-term water level and salinity trends in Lake Bosten from 1958 to 2019. During the past 62 years, the water level and salinity of Lake Bosten exhibited inverse "W-shaped" and "M-shaped" patterns, respectively. Partial least squares path modeling (PLS-PM) suggested that the decreasing water level and salinization during 1958-1986 were mainly caused by anthropogenic activities, while the variations in water level and salinity during 1987-2019 were mainly affected by climate change. The transformation of anthropogenic activities and climate change is beneficial for sustainable freshwater management in the Lake Bosten Catchment. Our findings highlight the benefit of monitoring aquatic environmental changes in arid and semi-arid regions over the long-term for the purpose of fostering a balance between socioeconomic development and ecological protection of the lake environment.

The bacterial community composition and its environmental drivers in the rivers around eutrophic Chaohu Lake, China.

BACKGROUND: Bacterial community play a key role in environmental and ecological processes in river ecosystems. Rivers are used as receiving body for treated and untreated urban wastewaters that brings high loads of sewage and excrement bacteria. However, little is known about the bacterial community structure and functional files in the rivers around the eutrophic Chaohu Lake, the fifth largest freshwater lake in China, has been subjected to severe eutrophication and cyanobacterial blooms over the past few decades. Therefore, understanding the taxonomic and functional compositions of bacterial communities in the river will contribute to understanding aquatic microbial ecology. The main aims were to (1) examine the structure of bacterial communities and functional profiles in this system; (2) find the environmental factors of bacterial community variations. RESULTS: We studied 88 sites at rivers in the Chaohu Lake basin, and determined bacterial communities using Illumina Miseq sequencing of the 16 S rRNA gene, and predicted functional profiles using PICRUSt2. A total of 3,390,497 bacterial 16 S rRNA gene sequences were obtained, representing 17 phyla, and 424 genera; The dominant phyla present in all samples were Bacteroidetes (1.4-82.50 %), followed by Proteobacteria (12.6-97.30 %), Actinobacteria (0.1-17.20 %). Flavobacterium was the most numerous genera, and accounted for 0.12-80.34 % of assigned 16 S reads, followed by Acinetobacter (0.33-49.28 %). Other dominant bacterial genera including Massilia (0.06-25.40 %), Psychrobacter (0-36.23 %), Chryseobacterium (0.01-22.86 %), Brevundimonas (0.01-12.82 %), Pseudomonas (0-59.73 %), Duganella (0.08-23.37 %), Unidentified Micrococcaceae (0-8.49 %). The functional profiles of the bacterial populations indicated an relation with many human diseases, including infectious diseases. Overall results, using the ß diversity measures, coupled with heatmap and RDA showed that there were spatial variations in the bacterial community composition at river sites, and Chemical oxygen demand (CODMn) and (NH4+ )were the dominant environmental drivers affecting the bacterial community variance. CONCLUSIONS: The high proportion of the opportunistic pathogens (Acinetobacter, Massilia, Brevundimonas) indicated that the discharge of sewage without adequate treatment into the rivers around Chaohu Lake. We propose that these bacteria could be more effective bioindicators for long-term sewage monitoring in eutrophic lakes.

Bacterial diversity, community composition and metabolic function in Lake Tianmuhu and its dammed river: Effects of domestic wastewater and damming.

Anthropogenic disturbances, such as pollution discharge and damming, can lead to a global decline in biodiversity in aquatic ecosystems. However, how such disturbances affect microbial community composition and function remains poorly understood. In November 2019, we explored bacterial diversity, community composition and metabolic function in Lake Tianmuhu, China, and in its upstream dammed river, using Illumina MiSeq sequencing and Biolog EcoPlate method based on carbon source utilization. Our results revealed higher variations in bacterial α- and ß-diversity in the dammed river ecosystem than in the lake ecosystem. In addition, the dammed river and lake ecosystems were significantly different in bacterial community compositions and metabolic structures. No significant relationship between species richness and functional (metabolic) diversity was observed in this study. The site that was most impacted by domestic wastewater had the lowest taxonomic diversity but highest metabolic capacity and activity, suggesting that community composition rather than species diversity is more important in determining ecosystem functioning. Overall, our findings indicate that anthropogenic disturbances can significantly alter bacterial community and function, and taxonomic diversity is a weak proxy for ecosystem functioning in a natural freshwater habitat.

Biodegradable dissolved organic carbon shapes bacterial community structures and co-occurrence patterns in large eutrophic Lake Taihu.

Interactions between dissolved organic matter (DOM) and bacteria are central in the biogeochemical cycles of aquatic ecosystems; however, the relative importance of biodegradable dissolved organic carbon (BDOC) compared with other environmental variables in structuring the bacterial communities needs further investigation. Here, we investigated bacterial communities, chromophoric DOM (CDOM) characteristics and physico-chemical parameters as well as examined BDOC via bioassay incubations in large eutrophic Lake Taihu, China, to explore the importance of BDOC for shaping bacterial community structures and co-occurrence patterns. We found that the proportion of BDOC (%BDOC) correlated significantly and positively with the DOC concentration and the index of the contribution of recent produced autochthonous CDOM (BIX). %BDOC, further correlated positively with the relative abundance of the tryptophan-like component and negatively with CDOM aromaticity, indicating that autochthonous production of protein-like CDOM was an important source of BDOC. The richness of the bacterial communities correlated negatively with %BDOC, indicating an enhanced number of species in the refractory DOC environments. %BDOC was identified as a significant stronger factor than DOC in shaping bacterial community composition and the co-occurrence network, suggesting that substrate biodegradability is more significant than DOC quantity determining the bacterial communities in a eutrophic lake. Environmental factors explained a larger proportion of the variation in the conditionally rare and abundant subcommunity than for the abundant and the rare bacterial subcommunities. Our findings emphasize the importance of considering bacteria with different abundance patterns and DOC biodegradability when studying the interactions between DOM and bacteria in eutrophic lakes.

Geographic Patterns of Bacterioplankton among Lakes of the Middle and Lower Reaches of the Yangtze River Basin, China.

The revolution of molecular techniques has revealed that the composition of natural bacterial communities normally includes a few abundant taxa and many rare taxa. Unraveling the mechanisms underlying the spatial assembly process of both abundant and rare bacterial taxa has become a central goal in microbial ecology. Here, we used high-throughput sequencing to explore geographic patterns and the relative importance of ecological processes in the assembly of abundant and rare bacterial subcommunities from 25 lakes across the middle and lower reaches of Yangtze River basin (MLYB), located in Southeast China, where most of the lakes are interconnected by river networks. We found similar biogeographic patterns of abundant and rare subcommunities which could significantly distinguish the community compositions of the two lake groups that were far from each other but which could not distinguish the community compositions of the nearby lakes. Both abundant and rare bacteria followed a strong distance-decay relationship. These findings suggest that the interconnectivity between lakes homogenizes the bacterial communities in local areas, and the abundant and rare taxa therein may be affected by the same ecological process. In addition, based on the measured environmental variables, the deterministic processes explain a small fraction of variation within both abundant and rare subcommunities, while both neutral and null models revealed a high stochasticity ratio for the spatial distribution patterns of both abundant and rare taxa. These findings indicate that the stochastic processes exhibited a greater influence on both abundant and rare bacterial subcommunity assemblies among interconnected lakes.IMPORTANCE The middle and lower Yangtze Plain is a typical floodplain in which many lakes connect with each other, especially in the wet season. More importantly, with the frequent change of regional water level in the wet season, there is a mutual hydrodynamic exchange among these lakes. The microbial biogeography among these interconnected lakes is still poorly understood. This study aims to unravel the mechanisms underlying the assembly process of abundant and rare bacteria among the interconnected lakes in the middle and lower Yangtze Plain. Our findings will provide a deeper understanding of the biogeographic patterns of rare and abundant bacterial taxa and their determined processes among interconnected aquatic habitats.

Activation of PPAR-ß/δ Attenuates Brain Injury by Suppressing Inflammation and Apoptosis in a Collagenase-Induced Intracerebral Hemorrhage Mouse Model.

Brain injury has been proposed as the major cause of the poor outcomes associated with intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). Emerging evidence indicates that the nuclear receptor, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor ß/δ (PPAR-ß/δ), plays a crucial role in the pathological process of central nervous impairment. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the protective effects of PPAR-ß/δ activation using a selective PPAR-ß/δ agonist, GW0742, against brain injury after ICH in a mouse model. ICH was induced by intravenous injection of collagenase into the right caudate putamen. To examine the protective effect of PPAR-ß/δ activation against ICH-induced brain injury, mice were either intraperitoneally injected with GW0742 (3 mg/kg, body weight) or saline (control group) 30 min before inducing ICH. Behavioral dysfunction was evaluated 24 and 72 h after injury. Then, all mice were killed to assess hematoma volume, brain water content, and blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability. TUNEL and Nissl staining were performed to quantify the brain injury. The expression of PPAR-ß/δ, interleukin (IL)-1ß, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, Bcl-2-related X-protein (Bax), and B-cell lymphoma 2 (Bcl-2) in the perihematomal area was examined by immunohistochemistry and western blotting analysis. Mice treated with GW0742 showed significantly less severe behavioral deficits compared to the control group, accompanied by increased expression of PPAR-ß/δ and Bcl-2, and increased expression of IL-1ß, TNF-α, and Bax decreased simultaneously in the GW0742-treated group. Furthermore, the GW0742-pretreated group showed significantly less brain edema and BBB leakage. Neuronal loss was attenuated, and the number of apoptotic neuronal cells in perihematomal tissues reduced, in the GW0742-pretreated group compared to the control group. However, the hematoma volume did not decrease significantly on day 3 after ICH. These results suggest that the activation of PPAR-ß/δ exerts a neuroprotective effect on ICH-induced brain injury, possibly through anti-inflammatory and anti-apoptotic pathways.

Several circulating miRNAs related to hyperlipidemia and atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases.

BACKGROUND: In recent years, an increasing number of studies have proved that circulating miRNAs could be used for the early diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases and even play vital roles in the evaluation of therapeutic effects or prognosis. This study was conducted to examine the correlation between serum microRNAs and hyperlipidemia to provide a theoretical basis for the early screening and intervention of atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases (ASCVD). METHODS: The serum samples and clinical data of 122 patients with hyperlipidemia and 168 healthy subjects were collected. Related clinical information was statistically analyzed for the two groups. Expression of circulating miRNAs was detected by miRNA microarray analysis and further verified by reverse transcription-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR). RESULTS: Statistical analysis of clinical information revealed a significant difference in the incidence of ASCVD between the two groups. The MiRNA microarray analysis (n = 10) showed 22 miRNAs with significantly different expression, among which 12 showed upregulation, and the others showed downregulation. Those possessing obvious differences and stable expression in the miRNA microarray, including miRNA-191-3p, miRNA-933, and miRNA-425-3p, were chosen for further investigation using RT-qPCR. The results demonstrated that several miRNAs were related to lipid metabolism disorders, especially miRNA-933. The area under the curve (AUC) of miRNA-933 in distinguishing the hyperlipidemia and ASCVD patients was 0.739 (95% CI, 0.682-0.795; P < 0.01) and 0.703 (95% CI, 0.643-0.763, P < 0.01), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, miRNA-191-3p, miRNA-933, and miRNA-425-3p may be depressed in the peripheral circulation of patients with lipid metabolism disorders (mainly LDL). Circulating miRNA-933 could be a feasible predictor for ASCVD at the early stage.

Low recovery of bacterial community after an extreme salinization-desalinization cycle.

BACKGROUND: Understanding the recovery of bacterial communities after extreme environmental disturbances offers key opportunities to investigate ecosystem resilience. However, it is not yet clear whether bacterial communities can rebound to their pre-disturbance levels. To shed light on this issue, we tracked the responses of bacterial communities during an extreme salinization-desalinization cycle. RESULTS: Our results showed that salinization-up process induced an ecological succession, shifting from a community dominated by Betaproteobacteria to Gammaproteobacteria. Within the desalinization-down process, taxon-specific recovery trajectories varied profoundly, with only Gammaproteobacteria returning to their initial levels, of which Alphaproteobacteria was the most prominent member. The α-diversity indices gradually increased at oligosaline environment (0.03‰ to 3‰) and subsequently decreased profoundly at hypersaline condition (10‰ to 90‰). However, the indices did not return to pre-disturbance level along the previous trajectory observed during the desalinization. Approximately half of the original OTUs were not detected during desalinization, suggesting that the seed bank may be damaged by the hypersaline environment. Moreover, Phylogenetic Investigation of Communities by Reconstruction of Unobserved States (PICRUSt) implied that the osmosensors' capacity of bacterial communities was also impaired by the hypersaline condition. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggested that the bacterial communities showed a low recovery after the extreme salinization-desalinization cycle.

Seasonal Gene Expression and the Ecophysiological Implications of Toxic Microcystis aeruginosa Blooms in Lake Taihu.

Harmful cyanobacterial blooms represent an increasing threat to freshwater resources globally. Despite increased research, the physiological basis of how the dominant bloom-forming cyanobacteria, Microcystis spp., proliferate and then maintain high population densities through changing environmental conditions is poorly understood. In this study, we examined the transcriptional profiles of the microbial community in Lake Taihu, China at 9 stations sampled monthly from June to October in 2014. To target Microcystis populations, we collected metatranscriptomic data and mapped reads to the M. aeruginosa NIES 843 genome. Our results revealed significant temporal gene expression patterns, with many genes separating into either early or late bloom clusters. About one-third of genes observed from M. aeruginosa were differentially expressed between these two clusters. Conductivity and nutrient availability appeared to be the environmental factors most strongly associated with these temporal gene expression shifts. Compared with the early bloom season (June and July), genes involved in N and P transport, energy metabolism, translation, and amino acid biosynthesis were down-regulated during the later season (August to October). In parallel, genes involved in regulatory functions as well as transposases and the production of microcystin and extracellular polysaccharides were up-regulated in the later season. Our observation indicates an eco-physiological shift occurs within the Microcystis spp. transcriptome as cells move from the rapid growth of early summer to bloom maintenance in late summer and autumn.

Pyrosequencing analysis of bacterial communities in Lake Bosten, a large brackish inland lake in the arid northwest of China.

The bacteria inhabiting brackish lake environments are poorly known, and there are few studies on the microbial diversity of these environments. Lake Bosten, a large brackish inland lake, is the largest lake in Xinjiang Province in northwestern China. Because sediments record past limnic changes, the analysis of sedimentary bacteria in Lake Bosten may help elucidate bacterial responses to environmental change. We employed 454 pyrosequencing to investigate the diversity and bacterial community composition in Lake Bosten. A total of 48 230 high-quality sequence reads with 16 314 operational taxonomic units were successfully obtained from the 4 selected samples, and they were numerically dominated by members of the Deltaproteobacteria (17.1%), Chloroflexi (16.1%), Betaproteobacteria (12.6%), Bacteroidetes (6.6%), and Firmicutes (5.7%) groups, accounting for more than 58.1% of the bacterial sequences. The sediment bacterial communities and diversity were consistently different along the 2 geographic environmental gradients: (i) freshwater-brackish water gradient and (ii) oligotrophic-mesotrophic habitat gradient. Deltaproteobacteria, Chloroflexi, and Betaproteobacteria were amplified throughout all of the sampling sites. More Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes were found near the Kaidu River estuary (site 14). Our investigation showed that Proteobacteria did not display any systematic change along the salinity gradient, and numerous 16S rRNA sequences could not be identified at the genus level. Our data will provide a better understanding of the diversity and distribution of bacteria in arid region brackish lakes.

The response of epiphytic bacteria on Vallisneria natans (Lour.) Hara (Hydrocharitaceae) to increasing nutrient loadings.

To investigate the effects of water column nutrient loading on epiphytic bacteria, we determined the abundance and community composition of epiphytic bacteria on the submerged macrophyte Vallisneria natans (Lour.) Hara during the growth season (June-October) under four different nutrient concentrations (nitrogen (N)-phosphorus (P) in mg L(-1) : 0.5-0.05, 1.0-0.1, 5.0-0.5, 10.0-1.0; hereafter NP-1, NP-2, NP-3, NP-4, respectively), using epifluorescence microscopy method and terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analysis, respectively. Relative to low nutrient conditions (NP-1), there was no significant effect on the epiphytic bacterial community, and even a decrease in the number of epiphytic bacteria, which linked to the well growth status of host macrophytes at moderate nutrient conditions (NP-2). However, further nutrient enrichment induced significant increase in the abundance of epiphytic bacteria, and marked changes in the community structures of epiphytic bacteria. Furthermore, at high nutrient conditions, epiphytic bacterial communities varied widely temporally, and were not stable compared with those at the lower nutrient conditions. These results indicated that the effects of nutrient enrichment on epiphytic bacteria were nonlinear and dependent on the nutrient concentrations in the water.

Comparative analysis of alkaline phosphatase-encoding genes (phoX) in two contrasting zones of Lake Taihu.

Limnetic habitats that are dominated by either algae or macrophytes represent the 2 dominant ecosystems in shallow lakes. We assessed seasonal variations in the diversity and abundance of alkaline phosphate-encoding genes (phoX) in these 2 zones of Lake Taihu, which is a large, shallow, eutrophic lake in China. There was no significant difference in seasonal mean phoX diversity between the 2 zones, whereas the seasonal mean phoX abundance in the macrophyte-dominated region was higher than that in the algae-dominated region. The bulk of the genotypes in the 2 regions were most similar to the alphaproteobacterial and betaproteobacterial phoX. Genotypes most similar to phoX affiliated with Betaproteobacteria were present with greater diversity in the macrophyte-dominated zone than in the algae-dominated zone. In the algae-dominated zone, the relative proportion of genotypes most similar to cyanobacterial phoX was highest (38.8%) in summer. In addition to the different genotype structures and environmental factors between the 2 stable states, the lower gene abundances and higher alkaline phosphatase activities in Meiliang Bay in summer than those in Xukou Bay reveals different organophosphate-mineralizing modes in these 2 contrasting habitats.

Pyrosequencing analysis of free-living and attached bacterial communities in Meiliang Bay, Lake Taihu, a large eutrophic shallow lake in China.

To elucidate the relationship between particle-attached (PA, ≥ 5.0 µm) and free-living (FL, 0.2-5.0 µm) bacterial communities, samplings were collected seasonally from November 2011 to August 2012 in Meiliang Bay, Lake Taihu, China. We used 454 pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA genes to study bacterial diversity and structure of PA and FL communities. The analysis rendered 37,985 highly qualified reads, subsequently assigned to 1755 operational taxonomic units (97% similarity) for the 8 samples. Although 27 high-level taxonomic groups were obtained, the 3 dominant phyla (Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Bacteroidetes) comprised about 75.9% and 82.4% of the PA and FL fractions, respectively. Overall, we found no significant differences between community types, as indicated by ANOSIM R statistics (R = 0.063, P > 0.05) and the Parsimony test (P = 0.222). Dynamics of bacterial communities were correlated with changes in concentrations of total suspended solids (TSS) and total phosphorus (TP). In summer, a significant taxonomic overlap in the 2 size fractions was observed when Cyanobacteria, a major contributor of TSS and TP, dominated in the water, highlighting the potential rapid exchange between PA and FL bacterial populations in large shallow eutrophic lakes.