Dávila-Santiago, Lizbeth

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    Metagenomic analysis of sediment microbial communities from a military impacted lagoon (Vieques, Puerto Rico)
    (2017) Dávila-Santiago, Lizbeth; Massol-Deyá, Arturo A.; College of Arts and Sciences - Sciences; DeLeón-Rodríguez, Natasha I.; Rodríguez-Minguela, Carlos M.; Department of Biology; De La Rosa Ricciardi, Evi
    For over 60 years, the Anones Lagoon at the island-municipality of Vieques, Puerto Rico, has been extensively subjected to ordnance-related pollution caused by military exercises carried out by the US Navy. After military activities ceased in 2003, several studies have shown significant levels of toxic chemicals particularly, heavy metals and explosives at the former bombing range and at the lagoon system. Due to its unique, long term history of contamination the Anones Lagoon has been designated as a Superfund site by the US Environmental Protection Agency and comprises an ideal model to understand the potential contribution of benthic microbial communities to natural attenuation. To this end, sediment samples (0-5cm) from Anones were collected in 2005 and 2014 and from two reference lagoons, Guaniquilla, (Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico) and Condado (San Juan, Puerto Rico). The former is located at a natural reserve with minimal anthropogenic impact while the later is situated within a developed urban setting. In order to characterize the total microbial communities at these sites, metagenomic DNA was extracted from sediments samples and shotgun sequenced using the Illumina Mi-Seq platform. Results showed that representatives from the Proteobacteria were prevalent in Anones (2005 and 2014) (>50%), while Condado was dominated by Bacteroidetes (68%). In contrast, Guaniquilla emerged as the location with most diverse bacterial community. Interestingly, a strong shift on the community structure of sediments retrieved from Anones was observed after 9 years period as the Euryarchaeota were enriched up to 9% and genes having functions related to bioremediation of explosives and heavy metals were significantly reduced (by 91.5%) relative to sediments collected during 2005. Furthermore, the overall microbial diversity was higher in Anones 2014. Nevertheless, five novel genomes were uncovered by binning in sediment samples retrieved from Anones during 2005, which could represent new genera. Describing benthic microbial community of Anones after military perturbation can help understand which microbes are present and what functions are undergoing in order to lead to natural attenuation processes and its potential contribution as bioindicators for the restoration of this lagoon and similarly impacted sites by military activities.