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Hadal trench sediments are hotspots of biogeochemical activity in the deep sea, but the biogeochemical and ecological factors that shape benthic hadal microbial communities remain unknown. Here, we sampled ten hadal sites from two trench regions with a vertical resolution of down to 1 cm. We sequenced 16S rRNA gene amplicons using universal and archaea-specific primer sets and compared the results to biogeochemical parameters. Despite bathymetric and depositional heterogeneity we found a high similarity of microbial communities within each of the two trench axes, while composition at the phylum level varied strongly with sediment depth in conjunction with the redox stratification into oxic, nitrogenous, and ferruginous zones. As a result, communities of a given sediment horizon were more similar to each other across a distance of hundreds of kilometers within each trench, than to those of adjacent horizons from the same sites separated only by centimeters. Total organic carbon content statistically only explained a small part of the variation within and between trenches, and did not explain the community differences observed between the hadal and adjacent shallower sites. Anaerobic taxa increased in abundance at the top of the ferruginous zone, seeded by organisms deposited at the sediment surface and surviving burial through the upper redox zones. While an influence of other potential factors such as geographic isolation, hydrostatic pressure, and non-steady state depositional regimes could not be discerned, redox stratification and diagenesis appear to be the main selective forces that structure community composition in hadal sediments., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Plants alter chemical and physical properties of soil, and thereby influence rhizosphere microbial community structure. The structure of microbial communities may in turn affect plant performance. Yet, outside of simple systems with pairwise interacting partners, the plant genetic pathways that influence microbial community structure remain largely unknown, as are the performance feedbacks of microbial communities selected by the host plant genotype. We investigated the role of the plant circadian clock in shaping rhizosphere community structure and function. We performed 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing to characterize rhizosphere bacterial communities of Arabidopsis thaliana between day and night time points, and tested for differences in community structure between wild-type (Ws) vs clock mutant (toc1-21, ztl-30) genotypes. We then characterized microbial community function, by growing wild-type plants in soils with an overstory history of Ws, toc1-21 or ztl-30 and measuring plant performance. We observed that rhizosphere community structure varied between day and night time points, and clock misfunction significantly altered rhizosphere communities. Finally, wild-type plants germinated earlier and were larger when inoculated with soils having an overstory history of wild-type in comparison with clock mutant genotypes. Our findings suggest the circadian clock of the plant host influences rhizosphere community structure and function.

Microbial communities have a key role in the physiology of the sponge host, and it is therefore essential to understand the stability and specificity of sponge-symbiont associations. Host-specific bacterial associations spanning large geographic distance are widely acknowledged in sponges. However, the full spectrum of specificity remains unclear. In particular, it is not known whether closely related sponges host similar or very different microbiota over wide bathymetric and geographic gradients, and whether specific associations extend to the rare members of the sponge microbiome. Using the ultra-deep Illumina sequencing technology, we conducted a comparison of sponge bacterial communities in seven closely related Hexadella species with a well-resolved host phylogeny, as well as of a distantly related sponge Mycale. These samples spanned unprecedentedly large bathymetric (15-960 m) gradients and varying European locations. In addition, this study included a bacterial community analysis of the local background seawater for both Mycale and the widespread deep-sea taxa Hexadella cf. dedritifera. We observed a striking diversity of microbes associated with the sponges, spanning 47 bacterial phyla. The data did not reveal any Hexadella microbiota co-speciation pattern, but confirmed sponge-specific and species-specific host-bacteria associations, even within extremely low abundant taxa. Oligotyping analysis also revealed differential enrichment preferences of closely related Nitrospira members in closely related sponges species. Overall, these results demonstrate highly diverse, remarkably specific and stable sponge-bacteria associations that extend to members of the rare biosphere at a very fine phylogenetic scale, over significant geographic and bathymetric gradients.