Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Article
  • Published:

Salinity determines performance, functional populations, and microbial ecology in consortia attenuating organohalide pollutants

The ISME Journal volume 17, pages 660–670 (2023)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Organohalide pollutants are prevalent in coastal regions due to extensive intervention by anthropogenic activities, threatening public health and ecosystems. Gradients in salinity are a natural feature of coasts, but their impacts on the environmental fate of organohalides and the underlying microbial communities remain poorly understood. Here we report the effects of salinity on microbial reductive dechlorination of tetrachloroethene (PCE) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in consortia derived from distinct environments (freshwater and marine sediments). Marine-derived microcosms exhibited higher halotolerance during PCE and PCB dechlorination, and a halotolerant dechlorinating culture was enriched from these microcosms. The organohalide-respiring bacteria (OHRB) responsible for PCE and PCB dechlorination in marine microcosms shifted from Dehalococcoides to Dehalobium when salinity increased. Broadly, lower microbial diversity, simpler co-occurrence networks, and more deterministic microbial community assemblages were observed under higher salinity. Separately, we observed that inhibition of dechlorination by high salinity could be attributed to suppressed viability of Dehalococcoides rather than reduced provision of substrates by syntrophic microorganisms. Additionally, the high activity of PCE dechlorinating reductive dehalogenases (RDases) in in vitro tests under high salinity suggests that high salinity likely disrupted cellular components other than RDases in Dehalococcoides. Genomic analyses indicated that the capability of Dehalobium to perform dehalogenation under high salinity was likely owing to the presence of genes associated with halotolerance in its genomes. Collectively, these mechanistic and ecological insights contribute to understanding the fate and bioremediation of organohalide pollutants in environments with changing salinity.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Effects of salinity on microbial reductive dechlorination of PCE and PCBs in microcosms.
Fig. 2: Microbial communities in microcosms under different salinities.
Fig. 3: Influence of salinity on co-occurrence networks and assembly of microbial communities in microcosms.
Fig. 4: Inhibition of high salinity on growth of organohalide-respiring bacteria in microcosms.
Fig. 5: Influence of salinity on PCE dechlorination and cell growth in the pure cultures of Dehalococcoides.
Fig. 6: In vitro dechlorination of PCE under different salinities.
Fig. 7: Dechlorination activity and cell abundance of organohalide-respiring bacteria during subculturing of the halotolerant dechlorinating culture F.
Fig. 8: Genes related to halotolerance in different subcultures revealed by metagenomic sequencing.

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

The 16 S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing and metagenomic sequencing data are archived at National Center for Biotechnology Information under accession number PRJNA836174.

References

  1. Xu G, Zhao X, Zhao S, Chen C, Rogers MJ, Ramaswamy R, et al. Insights into the occurrence, fate, and impacts of halogenated flame retardants in municipal wastewater treatment plants. Environ Sci Technol. 2021;55:4205–26.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Jones KC. Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and related chemicals in the global environment: some personal reflections. Environ Sci Technol. 2021;55:9400–12.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. He H, Li Y, Shen R, Shim H, Zeng Y, Zhao S, et al. Environmental occurrence and remediation of emerging organohalides: A review. Environ Pollut. 2021;290:118060.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Zhang Y, Xi B, Tan W. Release, transformation, and risk factors of polybrominated diphenyl ethers from landfills to the surrounding environments: A review. Environ Int. 2021;157:106780.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Creel L. Ripple effects: population and coastal regions. DC: Population Reference Bureau Washington; 2003.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Fu J, Fu K, Chen Y, Li X, Ye T, Gao K, et al. Long-range transport, trophic transfer, and ecological risks of organophosphate esters in remote areas. Environ Sci Technol. 2021;55:10192–209.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Meng J, Hong S, Wang T, Li Q, Yoon SJ, Lu Y, et al. Traditional and new POPs in environments along the Bohai and Yellow Seas: an overview of China and South Korea. Chemosphere 2017;169:503–15.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Fava F, Zanaroli G, Young LY. Microbial reductive dechlorination of pre-existing PCBs and spiked 2,3,4,5,6-pentachlorobiphenyl in anaerobic slurries of a contaminated sediment of Venice Lagoon (Italy). FEMS Microbiol Ecol. 2003;44:309–18.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Zanaroli G, Perez-Jimenez JR, Young LY, Marchetti L, Fava F. Microbial reductive dechlorination of weathered and exogenous co-planar polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in an anaerobic sediment of Venice Lagoon. Biodegradation. 2006;17:121–9.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Nuzzo A, Negroni A, Zanaroli G, Fava F. Identification of two organohalide-respiring Dehalococcoidia associated to different dechlorination activities in PCB-impacted marine sediments. Micro Cell Fact. 2017;16:127.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Domingo JL, Bocio A. Levels of PCDD/PCDFs and PCBs in edible marine species and human intake: a literature review. Environ Int. 2007;33:397–405.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Thorslund J, Bierkens MFP, Oude Essink GHP, Sutanudjaja EH, van Vliet MTH. Common irrigation drivers of freshwater salinisation in river basins worldwide. Nat Commun. 2021;12:4232.

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Jasechko S, Perrone D, Seybold H, Fan Y, Kirchner JW. Groundwater level observations in 250,000 coastal US wells reveal scope of potential seawater intrusion. Nat Commun. 2020;11:3229.

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Zhang G, Bai J, Tebbe CC, Zhao Q, Jia J, Wang W, et al. Salinity controls soil microbial community structure and function in coastal estuarine wetlands. Environ Microbiol. 2021;23:1020–37.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Marshall IPG, Karst SM, Nielsen PH, Jørgensen BB. Metagenomes from deep Baltic Sea sediments reveal how past and present environmental conditions determine microbial community composition. Mar Genomics. 2018;37:58–68.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Wood JM. Bacterial responses to osmotic challenges. J Gen Physiol. 2015;145:381–8.

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Meng Y, Yin C, Zhou Z, Meng F. Increased salinity triggers significant changes in the functional proteins of ANAMMOX bacteria within a biofilm community. Chemosphere 2018;207:655–64.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Li W, Li H, Liu Y-D, Zheng P, Shapleigh JP. Salinity-aided selection of progressive onset denitrifiers as a means of providing nitrite for Anammox. Environ Sci Technol. 2018;52:10665–72.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. De Vrieze J, Christiaens MER, Walraedt D, Devooght A, Ijaz UZ, Boon N. Microbial community redundancy in anaerobic digestion drives process recovery after salinity exposure. Water Res. 2017;111:109–17.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Alva VA, Peyton BM. Phenol and catechol biodegradation by the haloalkaliphile Halomonas campisalis:  influence of pH and salinity. Environ Sci Technol. 2003;37:4397–402.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Dam HT, Häggblom MM. Impact of estuarine gradients on reductive dechlorination of 1,2,3,4-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin in river sediment enrichment cultures. Chemosphere 2017;168:1177–85.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Wang YF, Zhu HW, Wang Y, Zhang XL, Tam NFY. Diversity and dynamics of microbial community structure in different mangrove, marine and freshwater sediments during anaerobic debromination of PBDEs. Front Microbiol. 2018;9:952.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Fu QS, Barkovskii AL, Adriaens P. Microbial dechlorination of dioxins in estuarine enrichment cultures: effects of respiratory conditions and priming compound on community structure and dechlorination patterns. Mar Environ Res. 2005;59:177–95.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Zanaroli G, Balloi A, Negroni A, Daffonchio D, Young LY, Fava F. Characterization of the microbial community from the marine sediment of the Venice lagoon capable of reductive dechlorination of coplanar polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). J Hazard Mater. 2010;178:417–26.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Rath KM, Fierer N, Murphy DV, Rousk J. Linking bacterial community composition to soil salinity along environmental gradients. ISME J. 2019;13:836–46.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Rath KM, Maheshwari A, Rousk J. Linking microbial community structure to trait distributions and functions using salinity as an environmental filter. mBio. 2019;10:e01607–19.

  27. Herlemann DP, Labrenz M, Jurgens K, Bertilsson S, Waniek JJ, Andersson AF. Transitions in bacterial communities along the 2000 km salinity gradient of the Baltic Sea. ISME J. 2011;5:1571–9.

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Cheng D, He J. Isolation and characterization of Dehalococcoides sp. strain MB, which dechlorinates tetrachloroethene to trans-1,2-dichloroethene. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2009;75:5910–8.

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Wang S, Chng KR, Wilm A, Zhao S, Yang KL, Nagarajan N, et al. Genomic characterization of three unique Dehalococcoides that respire on persistent polychlorinated biphenyls. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2014;111:12103–8.

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Xu G, Zhao S, Chen C, Zhao X, Ramaswamy R, He J. Dehalogenation of polybrominated diphenyl ethers and polychlorinated biphenyls catalyzed by a reductive dehalogenase in Dehalococcoides mccartyi strain MB. Environ Sci Technol. 2022;56:4039–49.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Xu G, He J. Resilience of organohalide-detoxifying microbial community to oxygen stress in sewage sludge. Water Res. 2022;224:119055.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  32. Zhao S, Ding C, Xu G, Rogers MJ, Ramaswamy R, He J. Diversity of organohalide respiring bacteria and reductive dehalogenases that detoxify polybrominated diphenyl ethers in e-waste recycling sites. ISME J. 2022;16:2123–31.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Lu Q, Liang Y, Fang W, Guan KL, Huang C, Qi X, et al. Spatial distribution, bioconversion and ecological risk of PCBs and PBDEs in the surface sediment of contaminated urban rivers: a nationwide study in China. Environ Sci Technol. 2021;55:9579–90.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Schaefer CE, Lavorgna GM, Haluska AA, Annable MD. Long-term impacts on groundwater and reductive dechlorination following bioremediation in a highly characterized trichloroethene DNAPL source area. Ground Water Monit R. 2018;38:65–74.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  35. Xu G, Lu Q, Yu L, Wang S. Tetrachloroethene primes reductive dechlorination of polychlorinated biphenyls in a river sediment microcosm. Water Res. 2019;152:87–95.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  36. Xu G, Zhao X, Zhao S, He J. Acceleration of polychlorinated biphenyls remediation in soil via sewage sludge amendment. J Hazard Mater. 2021;420:126630.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  37. Bedard DL, Van Dort H, Deweerd KA. Brominated biphenyls prime extensive microbial reductive dehalogenation of Aroclor 1260 in Housatonic river sediment. Appl Environ Microbiol. 1998;64:1786–95.

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  38. Lu Q, Zou X, Liu J, Liang Z, Shim H, Qiu R, et al. Inhibitory effects of metal ions on reductive dechlorination of polychlorinated biphenyls and perchloroethene in distinct organohalide-respiring bacteria. Environ Int. 2020;135:105373.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  39. Ding C, Alvarez-Cohen L, He J. Growth of Dehalococcoides mccartyi species in an autotrophic consortium producing limited acetate. Biodegradation 2018;29:487–98.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  40. Freeborn RA, West KA, Bhupathiraju VK, Chauhan S, Rahm BG, Richardson RE, et al. Phylogenetic analysis of TCE-dechlorinating consortia enriched on a variety of electron donors. Environ Sci Technol. 2005;39:8358–68.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  41. Bolyen E, Rideout JR, Dillon MR, Bokulich NA, Abnet CC, Al-Ghalith GA, et al. Reproducible, interactive, scalable and extensible microbiome data science using QIIME 2. Nat Biotechnol. 2019;37:852–7.

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  42. Callahan BJ, McMurdie PJ, Rosen MJ, Han AW, Johnson AJA, Holmes SP. DADA2: high-resolution sample inference from Illumina amplicon data. Nat Methods. 2016;13:581–3.

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  43. Katoh K, Misawa K, Kuma K, Miyata T. MAFFT: a novel method for rapid multiple sequence alignment based on fast Fourier transform. Nucleic Acids Res. 2002;30:3059–66.

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  44. Stamatakis A. RAxML version 8: a tool for phylogenetic analysis and post-analysis of large phylogenies. Bioinformatics. 2014;30:1312–3.

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  45. Bokulich NA, Kaehler BD, Rideout JR, Dillon M, Bolyen E, Knight R, et al. Optimizing taxonomic classification of marker-gene amplicon sequences with QIIME 2’s q2-feature-classifier plugin. Microbiome. 2018;6:90.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  46. Quast C, Pruesse E, Yilmaz P, Gerken J, Schweer T, Yarza P, et al. The SILVA ribosomal RNA gene database project: improved data processing and web-based tools. Nucleic Acids Res. 2013;41:D590–D6.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  47. Bray JR, Curtis JT. An ordination of the upland forest communities of southern Wisconsin. Ecol Monogr. 1957;27:325–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  48. Alves AS, Adão H, Patrício J, Neto JM, Costa MJ, Marques JC. Spatial distribution of subtidal meiobenthos along estuarine gradients in two southern European estuaries (Portugal). J Mar Biol Assoc UK. 2009;89:1529–40.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  49. Dixon P. VEGAN, a package of R functions for community ecology. J Veg Sci. 2003;14:927–30.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  50. Csardi G, Nepusz T. The igraph software package for complex network research. Inter J Complex Syst. 2006;1695:1–9.

    Google Scholar 

  51. Harrell FE, Jr. Hmisc: Harrell miscellaneous. R package version 4.5-0 ed 2021.

  52. Deng Y, Zhang P, Qin Y, Tu Q, Yang Y, He Z, et al. Network succession reveals the importance of competition in response to emulsified vegetable oil amendment for uranium bioremediation. Environ Microbiol. 2016;18:205–18.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  53. Bastian M, Heymann S, Jacomy M. Gephi: an open source software for exploring and manipulating networks. International AAAI Conference on Weblogs and Social Media. Menlo Park, CA, USA: AAAI Press; 2009.

    Google Scholar 

  54. Ning D, Deng Y, Tiedje JM, Zhou J. A general framework for quantitatively assessing ecological stochasticity. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2019;116:16892–8.

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  55. Zhang K, Shi Y, Cui X, Yue P, Li K, Liu X, et al. Salinity is a key determinant for soil microbial communities in a desert ecosystem. mSystems. 2019;4:e00225–18.

  56. Campbell BJ, Kirchman DL. Bacterial diversity, community structure and potential growth rates along an estuarine salinity gradient. ISME J. 2013;7:210–20.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  57. Nurk S, Meleshko D, Korobeynikov A, Pevzner PA. metaSPAdes: a new versatile metagenomic assembler. Genome Res. 2017;27:824–34.

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  58. Walker BJ, Abeel T, Shea T, Priest M, Abouelliel A, Sakthikumar S, et al. Pilon: an integrated tool for comprehensive microbial variant detection and genome assembly improvement. PLoS One. 2014;9:e112963.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  59. Huerta-Cepas J, Szklarczyk D, Heller D, Hernández-Plaza A, Forslund SK, Cook H, et al. eggNOG 5.0: a hierarchical, functionally and phylogenetically annotated orthology resource based on 5090 organisms and 2502 viruses. Nucleic Acids Res. 2019;47:D309–d14.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  60. Cantalapiedra CP, Hernández-Plaza A, Letunic I, Bork P, Huerta-Cepas J. eggNOG-mapper v2: functional annotation, orthology assignments, and domain prediction at the metagenomic scale. Mol Biol Evol. 2021;38:5825–9.

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  61. Alneberg J, Bjarnason BS, de Bruijn I, Schirmer M, Quick J, Ijaz UZ, et al. Binning metagenomic contigs by coverage and composition. Nat Methods. 2014;11:1144–6.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  62. Kang DD, Li F, Kirton E, Thomas A, Egan R, An H, et al. MetaBAT 2: an adaptive binning algorithm for robust and efficient genome reconstruction from metagenome assemblies. PeerJ 2019;7:e7359.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  63. Wu Y-W, Simmons BA, Singer SW. MaxBin 2.0: an automated binning algorithm to recover genomes from multiple metagenomic datasets. Bioinformatics 2015;32:605–7.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  64. Sieber CMK, Probst AJ, Sharrar A, Thomas BC, Hess M, Tringe SG, et al. Recovery of genomes from metagenomes via a dereplication, aggregation and scoring strategy. Nat Microbiol. 2018;3:836–43.

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  65. Parks DH, Imelfort M, Skennerton CT, Hugenholtz P, Tyson GW. CheckM: assessing the quality of microbial genomes recovered from isolates, single cells, and metagenomes. Genome Res. 2015;25:1043–55.

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  66. Manni M, Berkeley MR, Seppey M, Simão FA, Zdobnov EM. BUSCO update: novel and streamlined workflows along with broader and deeper phylogenetic coverage for scoring of eukaryotic, prokaryotic, and viral genomes. Mol Biol Evol. 2021;38:4647–54.

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  67. Lagesen K, Hallin P, Rødland EA, Stærfeldt H-H, Rognes T, Ussery DW. RNAmmer: consistent and rapid annotation of ribosomal RNA genes. Nucleic Acids Res. 2007;35:3100–8.

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  68. Putri GH, Anders S, Pyl PT, Pimanda JE, Zanini F. Analysing high-throughput sequencing data in Python with HTSeq 2.0. Bioinformatics. 2022;38:2943–5.

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  69. Vainberg S, Condee CW, Steffan RJ. Large-scale production of bacterial consortia for remediation of chlorinated solvent-contaminated groundwater. J Ind Microbiol Biotechnol. 2009;36:1189–97.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  70. Scheutz C, Durant ND, Dennis P, Hansen MH, Jørgensen T, Jakobsen R, et al. Concurrent ethene generation and growth of Dehalococcoides containing vinyl chloride reductive dehalogenase genes during an enhanced reductive dechlorination field demonstration. Environ Sci Technol. 2008;42:9302–9.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  71. Xu G, Ng HL, Chen C, Zhao S, He J. Efficient and complete detoxification of polybrominated diphenyl ethers in sediments achieved by bioaugmentation with Dehalococcoides and microbial ecological insights. Environ Sci Technol. 2022;56:8008–19.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  72. Duhamel M, Mo K, Edwards EA. Characterization of a highly enriched Dehalococcoides-containing culture that grows on vinyl chloride and trichloroethene. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2004;70:5538–45.

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  73. May HD, Miller GS, Kjellerup BV, Sowers KR. Dehalorespiration with polychlorinated biphenyls by an anaerobic ultramicrobacterium. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2008;74:2089–94.

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  74. Lee M, Liang G, Holland SI, O’Farrell C, Osborne K, Manefield MJ. Dehalobium species implicated in 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin dechlorination in the contaminated sediments of Sydney Harbour Estuary. Mar Pollut Bull. 2022;179:113690.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  75. Molenda O, Puentes Jacome LA, Cao X, Nesbo CL, Tang S, Morson N, et al. Insights into origins and function of the unexplored majority of the reductive dehalogenase gene family as a result of genome assembly and ortholog group classification. Environ Sci Process Impacts. 2020;22:663–78.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  76. Gunde-Cimerman N, Plemenitaš A, Oren A. Strategies of adaptation of microorganisms of the three domains of life to high salt concentrations. FEMS Microbiol Rev. 2018;42:353–75.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  77. Edbeib MF, Aksoy HM, Kaya Y, Wahab RA, Huyop F. Haloadaptation: insights from comparative modeling studies between halotolerant and non-halotolerant dehalogenases. J Biomol Struct Dyn. 2020;38:3452–61.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  78. Yin W, Wang Y, Liu L, He J. Biofilms: the microbial “protective clothing” in extreme environments. Int J Mol Sci. 2019;20:3423.

  79. Xu G, Zheng X, Lu Y, Liu G, Luo H, Li X, et al. Development of microbial community within the cathodic biofilm of single-chamber air-cathode microbial fuel cell. Sci Total Environ. 2019;665:641–8.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  80. Yuan J, Li S, Cheng J, Guo C, Shen C, He J, et al. Potential role of methanogens in microbial reductive dechlorination of organic chlorinated pollutants in situ. Environ Sci Technol. 2021;55:5917–28.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  81. Wang S, Chen C, Zhao S, He J. Microbial synergistic interactions for reductive dechlorination of polychlorinated biphenyls. Sci Total Environ. 2019;666:368–76.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  82. Liang Y, Lu Q, Liang Z, Liu X, Fang W, Liang D, et al. Substrate-dependent competition and cooperation relationships between Geobacter and Dehalococcoides for their organohalide respiration. ISME Commun. 2021;1:23.

  83. Kruse S, Turkowsky D, Birkigt J, Matturro B, Franke S, Jehmlich N, et al. Interspecies metabolite transfer and aggregate formation in a co-culture of Dehalococcoides and Sulfurospirillum dehalogenating tetrachloroethene to ethene. ISME J. 2021;15:1794–809.

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  84. Sutherland WJ, Freckleton RP, Godfray HCJ, Beissinger SR, Benton T, Cameron DD, et al. Identification of 100 fundamental ecological questions. J Ecol. 2013;101:58–67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  85. Deng Y, Jiang Y-H, Yang Y, He Z, Luo F, Zhou J. Molecular ecological network analyses. BMC Bioinforma. 2012;13:113.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the Ministry of Education, Singapore under Academic Research Fund Tier 2 under project No.: MOE-00003301 and Tier 1 under Project No.: R-302-000-239-114.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 117576, Singapore

    Guofang Xu, Xuejie Zhao, Siyan Zhao, Matthew J. Rogers & Jianzhong He

  2. NUS Graduate School - Integrative Sciences and Engineering Programme (ISEP), National University of Singapore, Singapore, 119077, Singapore

    Guofang Xu & Jianzhong He

Authors
  1. Guofang Xu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Xuejie Zhao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Siyan Zhao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Matthew J. Rogers
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Jianzhong He
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

GX and JH designed the study. GX and XZ performed the experiments. GX and MR analyzed the data. GX wrote the manuscript with the help of SZ. GX, SZ, MR and JH contributed to the revision and finalization of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jianzhong He.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Supplementary information

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Xu, G., Zhao, X., Zhao, S. et al. Salinity determines performance, functional populations, and microbial ecology in consortia attenuating organohalide pollutants. ISME J 17, 660–670 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41396-023-01377-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41396-023-01377-1

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links