Phylogenetic Diversity of Verrucomicrobiota in Fens of Northern Russia

Abstract

Bacteria of the phylum Verrucomicrobiota colonize a wide spectrum of terrestrial and aquatic habitats. One of the ecosystems where verrucomicrobia represent a significant part of the indigenous microbial community are wetlands. All earlier published information regarding phylogenetic diversity of verrucomicrobia in wetlands, however, refers to raised bogs, while verrucomicrobial diversity in fens remains poorly explored. In this study, we performed a comparative diversity analysis of Verrucomicrobiota in six fens of Vologda region. Nucleotide sequences of verrucomicrobia comprised 4 to 7% of all 16S rRNA gene reads retrieved from the examined peat samples. The most abundant groups were represented by members of the families Pedosphaeraceae, Opitutaceae and the order Chtoniobacterales, as well as the as-yet-uncultivated order-candidate S-BQ2-57. Numerical correlation between the relative abundance of well-represented taxa and peat characteristics was determined.