Identifying and tracking mobile elements in evolving compost communities yields insights into the nanobiome

Abstract

Microbial evolution is driven by rapid changes in gene content mediated by horizontal gene transfer (HGT). While mobile genetic elements (MGEs) are important drivers of gene flux, the nanobiome - the zoo of Darwinian replicators that depend on microbial hosts - remains poorly characterised. New experimental approaches and analyses are necessary to advance our understanding beyond simple pairwise MGE-host interactions. To detect horizontal transfer, a bioinformatic pipeline (xenoseq) was developed to cross-compare metagenomic samples, which was then applied to metagenomic data from evolving compost communities. These communities were routinely exposed to an "MGE cocktail" derived from allopatric communities. We show that this results in horizontal transfer of a multitude of previously undetected MGEs, including bacteriophages, phage-plasmids, megaplasmids, and even nanobacteria. Sequences that spread from one community to another are shown to disproportionally carry characteristics of phages and insertion-sequences, i.e., traits of canonically parasitic MGEs. We also show that one particularly prolific mobile element - a 313 kb plasmid - correlates substantially with rates of ammonia production, which under nitrogen limitation is likely beneficial. Taken together, our data show that new experimental strategies combined with bioinformatic analyses of metagenomic data stand to provide insight into the drivers of microbial community evolution.