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Prairie Pothole Wetland Sulfur-Carbon Virus-Host Community

Community ID CommunityMech:000256
Ecological State STABLE
Environment Prairie Pothole wetland sediment
ENVO:00000044

Natural wetland sediment microbial and viral communities from the Prairie Pothole Region of North America, curated around genome-resolved metagenomic evidence for high-rate sulfur and carbon cycling. The study recovered sulfate-reduction marker genes, candidate sulfate-reducing genomes, methanogenesis marker genes, putative methanogen genomes, and abundant novel viral populations predicted to target dominant sulfate reducers and methanogens. The community is DOE-relevant because DNA sequencing and analysis were conducted by the DOE Joint Genome Institute and because the system links wetland methane emissions, sulfate reduction, carbon mineralization, and virus-host controls.

Taxonomy

Taxon Ontology ID Functional Roles Abundance
Prairie Pothole wetland sediment microbial community NCBITaxon:131567
PRIMARY_DEGRADER SECONDARY_FERMENTER SYNTROPHIC_PARTNER
N/A
  • PMID:30086797 - SUPPORT (COMPUTATIONAL)
    "utilized metagenomics to investigate candidate sulfate reducers and methanogens"
  • PMID:30086797 - SUPPORT (IN_VIVO)
    "Prairie Pothole Region of North America"
Prairie Pothole candidate sulfate reducers NCBITaxon:2
PRIMARY_DEGRADER SECONDARY_FERMENTER
COMMON
  • PMID:30086797 - SUPPORT (COMPUTATIONAL)
    "recovered 162 dsrA and 206 dsrD sequences"
  • PMID:30086797 - SUPPORT (COMPUTATIONAL)
    "reconstructed 24 candidate sulfate reducer genomes assigned to seven phyla"
Prairie Pothole methanogens NCBITaxon:2157
SYNTROPHIC_PARTNER PRIMARY_PRODUCER
COMMON
  • PMID:30086797 - SUPPORT (COMPUTATIONAL)
    "identified 37 mcrA sequences spanning five orders"
  • PMID:30086797 - SUPPORT (COMPUTATIONAL)
    "recovered two putative methanogen genomes"
Prairie Pothole wetland sediment viruses NCBITaxon:10239 COMMON
  • PMID:30086797 - SUPPORT (COMPUTATIONAL)
    "approximately 80% of viral populations being unclassified"
  • PMID:30086797 - SUPPORT (COMPUTATIONAL)
    "viral populations were predicted to target dominant sulfate reducers and methanogens"

Ecological Interactions

Ecological interaction network for Prairie Pothole Wetland Sulfur-Carbon Virus-Host Community Bipartite graph where circle nodes represent taxa and colored rectangles represent ecological interactions (cross-feeding, mutualism, syntrophy, competition, commensalism).
Taxon
Cross-feeding
Mutualism
Syntrophy
Competition
Commensalism
Niche partitioning
Colonization facilitation
Strain competition
Predation

Diverse Sulfate-Reduction Guild

NICHE_PARTITIONING

Source Taxon: Prairie Pothole candidate sulfate reducers

Metabolites: sulfate (CHEBI:16189), methanol (CHEBI:17790), ethanol (CHEBI:16236)

Biological Processes:

Evidence

  • PMID:30086797 - SUPPORT (COMPUTATIONAL)
    "recovered 162 dsrA and 206 dsrD sequences"
  • PMID:30086797 - SUPPORT (COMPUTATIONAL)
    "utilizing a wide variety of electron donors, such as methanol and other alcohols"

Alcohol-Linked Methanogenesis Potential

CROSS_FEEDING

Source Taxon: Prairie Pothole wetland sediment microbial community

Target Taxon: Prairie Pothole methanogens

Metabolites: methane (CHEBI:16183), ethanol (CHEBI:16236), carbon dioxide (CHEBI:16526)

Biological Processes:

Evidence

  • PMID:30086797 - SUPPORT (COMPUTATIONAL)
    "identified 37 mcrA sequences spanning five orders"
  • PMID:30086797 - SUPPORT (COMPUTATIONAL)
    "these alcohols may drive a significant fraction of methanogenesis"

Viral Control Of Sulfate Reducers And Methanogens

PREDATION

Source Taxon: Prairie Pothole wetland sediment viruses

Target Taxon: Prairie Pothole wetland sediment microbial community

Biological Processes:

Evidence

  • PMID:30086797 - SUPPORT (COMPUTATIONAL)
    "viral populations were predicted to target dominant sulfate reducers and methanogens"
  • PMID:30086797 - SUPPORT (COMPUTATIONAL)
    "approximately 80% of viral populations being unclassified"

Niche Differentiation In Heterogeneous Wetland Sediment

NICHE_PARTITIONING

Metabolites: methane (CHEBI:16183), sulfate (CHEBI:16189)

Biological Processes:

Evidence

  • PMID:30086797 - SUPPORT (COMPUTATIONAL)
    "diversity is likely key to extremely high rates of methanogenesis and sulfate reduction"
  • PMID:30086797 - SUPPORT (COMPUTATIONAL)
    "modulating carbon and sulfur cycling in this ecosystem"

Associated Datasets

Dataset Type Repository Accession
Prairie Pothole sulfur-cycling metagenomes
DOE JGI Genome Portal project for raw reads, trimmed reads, assemblies, and quality-control reports from "Seasonal Sulfur Cycling as a Control on Methane Flux in Carbon-Rich Prairie Pothole Sediment Ecosystems." 		METAGENOME OTHER JGI proposal ID 2025

External Resources

Name Repository Resource ID
Primary publication for Prairie Pothole wetland sulfur-carbon virus-host community
PubMed record for the Microbiome paper reporting viral and metabolic controls on high rates of microbial sulfur and carbon cycling in Prairie Pothole wetland ecosystems. 		OTHER PMID:30086797
  • PMID:30086797 - SUPPORT (OTHER)
    "Viral and metabolic controls on high rates of microbial sulfur and carbon cycling"
DOI landing page
DOI for the open-access Microbiome publication. 		OTHER doi:10.1186/s40168-018-0522-4
  • PMID:30086797 - SUPPORT (OTHER)
    "DOI: 10.1186/s40168-018-0522-4"

Environmental Factors

Factor Value Unit
Prairie Pothole wetland sediment North American Prairie Pothole Region N/A
  • PMID:30086797 - SUPPORT (IN_VIVO)
    "Prairie Pothole Region of North America"
High sulfate reduction high sulfate reduction rates in wetland sediment N/A
  • PMID:30086797 - SUPPORT (IN_VIVO)
    "Sulfate reduction rates up to 22"
Methane emissions high wetland methane flux N/A
Dissolved organic carbon and sulfur species high pore-water sulfur species and dissolved organic carbon N/A
  • PMID:30086797 - SUPPORT (IN_VIVO)
    "high concentrations of sulfur species and dissolved organic carbon"