Dominance of Ferritrophicum populations at an AMD site with rapid iron oxidation

Abstract:

Acid mine drainage is a major environmental problem affecting watersheds across the globe. Bioremediation of AMD relies on microbial communities to oxidize and thus remove iron from the system. Iron-oxidation rates in AMD environments are highly variable across sites. At Scalp Level Run in Summerset County PA, iron-oxidation rates are five to eight times faster than other coal-associated AMD sites. We examined the microbial community at Scalp Level Run to determine whether a unique microbial community may be responsible for the observed rapid iron-oxidation rates. Using MiSeq sequence tags, 16S rRNA gene clone libraries, and fluorescence in situ hybridization, we found that Scalp Level Run sediments host microbial populations closely related to the betaproteobacterium Ferritrophicum radicicola, an iron-oxidizing species isolated from an acid mine drainage wetland in Virginia. Ferritrophicum spp. was not found at the four other coal-associated AMD sites in the study and is uncommon in the published literature. The influence of Ferritrophicum spp. populations in biogeochemical cycling, specifically their role in determining the iron-oxidation rate at Scalp Level Run is unknown. Therefore, we employed metagenomic sequencing to examine the metabolic potential of the microbial community at Scalp Level Run.