The evolutionary process of microbial community structure influenced by photoelectron from semiconducting minerals occurring at the “mineral membrane” on the Earth surface

doi:10.13745/j.esf.sf.2020.5.53

Abstract

Abstract:

The interaction between minerals and microorganisms involved in the material recycling and energy transformation takes place on the earth's surface. In recently years, research on semiconducting minerals in natural environments has provided a new direction for the study of mineral-microbe interaction. It is one of the core scientific issues in the interdisciplinary study of geomicrobiology to reveal the electron transfer mechanism and its environmental effects on the “sunlight-semiconducting minerals-microorganisms” system. In this study, through examination of natural “mineral membrane” samples, we confirmed that the average photocurrents for karst, red soil and rock varnish samples were about 5.4, 3.4 and 3.2 μA/cm², respectively, in the 1000 min long-term cycling experiments. The results demonstrated that the “mineral membrane” samples have good solar response characteristic, and iron/manganese oxide minerals play a key role in the response process. Moreover, based on our previous studies where we showed that the electroactive genera were enriched in “mineral membrane” and correlated positively with semiconducting mineral distribution, we successfully constructed a simulated photoelectron influencing bacterial community system in red soil. Twenty days later, the α diversity of bacterial community was significantly increased, and the bacterial community had an active response for simulating photoelectron. In addition, bacterial community presented directional evolutions at the electrode and in solution samples. The 16S rRNA sequencing analysis showed that Shewanella, Pseudomonas, Streptococcus, Lactobacillus, Acinetobacter and other electroactive genera were significantly enriched under the influence of simulated photoelectron. In conclusion, the results indirectly confirmed that photoelectron from semiconducting minerals in surface environments could regulate the structure of microbial community and promote enrichment of electroactive genera in the “mineral membrane” over time.

Key words: “mineral membrane”, on the earth surface, semiconducting minerals, photoelectron, electroactive genera

CLC Number:

REN Guiping, LU Anhuai, LI Yan, WANG Changqiu, DING Hongrui. The evolutionary process of microbial community structure influenced by photoelectron from semiconducting minerals occurring at the “mineral membrane” on the Earth surface[J]. Earth Science Frontiers, 2020, 27(5): 195-206.

Figures/Tables 12

Fig.1 The three-electrode photoelectrochemical system

Fig.2 (a) Field photo of the Xinjiang Gobi varnish. (b) Field photograph of karst from Southwest China (Insert: LBB color comparison of Mn(IV) in samples with or without “mineral membrane”). (c) Photographs of red soil in South China (Insert: stereo-picture of cutan in red soil). (d) SR-XRD pattern showing mineral composition in rock varnish. (e) μ-Raman spectra of hematite and birnessite in karst.

Table 1 Average photocurrent and dark current from different “mineral membrane” and substrate samples with 100 s short-time cycles

样品	暗电流/ (μA·cm^-2)	光电流/ (μA·cm^-2)	相对比例
红壤矿物膜	1.5	4.5	300%
岩石漆矿物膜	0.7	3.8	543%
喀斯特矿物膜	1.2	6.1	508%
岩石漆基岩	0.2	0.5	250%
喀斯特基岩	0.3	0.6	200%

Fig.3 (a) Fifteen min long-term photocurrent response curves for the “mineral membrane” and other substrate mineral samples under simulated sunlight. (b) IPCE curves for “mineral membrane” under different wavelengths.

Table 2 Long-term average photocurrent and dark current with different mineral electrodes in 15 min cycles

样品	暗电流/ (μA·cm^-2)	光电流/ (μA·cm^-2)	相对比例
红壤矿物膜	0.5	3.4	680%
岩石漆矿物膜	0.5	3.2	640%
喀斯特矿物膜	0.6	5.4	900%
石英	0.1	0.3	300%
长石	0.1	0.2	200%

Fig.4 PCA results based on relative OTUs abundance in varnish (a) and karst (b). Adapted from [15-16].

Fig.5 (a) Changing pH curve for the simulated photoelectron influenced bacterial community system in the Haikou red soil. (b) In-situ CV curves for the red soil system.

Table 3 Name table for bacterial communities in simulated photoelectron influenced Haikou red soil system

样品	时间	不同实验条件下的样品命名
样品	时间	-0.53 V	-0.29 V	断路
溶液群落	10 d	HK101.1-HK101.4	HK102.1-HK102.4	HK103.1-HK103.4
溶液群落	20 d	HK201.1-HK201.4	HK202.1-HK202.4	HK203.1-HK203.4
电极群落	10 d	HK301.1-HK301.4	HK302.1-HK302.4	HK303.1-HK303.4
电极群落	20 d	HK401.1-HK401.4	HK402.1-HK402.4	HK403.1-HK403.4

Fig.6 Chao1 diversity values in solution (a) and electrode (b) from Haikou red soil system

Fig.7 Bacterial community structure at different order levels for the Haikou red soil system. Only top 10 enriched order categories are shown.

Fig.8 Bacterial community structure at different genus levels for the Haikou red soil system.Only top 10 enriched genus categories are shown.

Fig.9 PCoA results for bacterial community in solution (a) and carbon felt (b) samples

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