Microbiological Analysis and Metagenomic Profiling of the Bacterial Community of an Anthropogenic Soil Modified from Typic Haploxererts

This work aimed to characterize the microbial communities of an anthropogenic soil originating from application of pedotechniques to Vertisols in a Mediterranean environment. Bare soil profiles were sampled at three depths (0-10 cm, 10-30 cm, and 30-50 cm) and compared with the original soil not transformed at the same depths. The anthropogenic soils were characterized by a higher CaCO3 concentration (360-640 g/kg) than control soil (190-200 g/kg), while an opposite trend was registered for clay, where control soil showed a higher concentration (465 g/kg on average) than anthropogenic soil (355 g /kg on average). Organic carbon content was much higher in the untransformed soil. All samples were microbiologically investigated using a combined culture-dependent and -independent approach. Each pedon displayed a generally decreasing level with soil depth for the several microbial groups investigated; in particular, filamentous fungi were below the detection limit at 30-50 cm. To isolate bacteria actively involved in soil particle aggregation, colonies with mucoid appearance were differentiated at the strain level and genetically identified: the major groups were represented by Bacillus and Pseudomonas. MiSeq Illumina analysis identified Actinobacteria and Firmicutes as the main groups. A high microbial variability was found in all the three anthropogenic pedons and the microorganisms constitute a mature community.

Automated summary

This study characterized the microbial communities of anthropogenic soil in a Mediterranean environment. The microbial groups showed a decreasing trend with soil depth, and Actinobacteria and Firmicutes were identified as the main groups. The findings highlight the microbial diversity and composition in the studied anthropogenic soil.