Microbial Ecology and Evolution in the Acid Mine Drainage Model System

Acid mine drainage (AMD) is a unique ecological niche for acid- and toxic-metals-adapted microorganisms. These low-complexity systems offer a special opportunity for the ecological and evolutionary analyses of natural microbial assemblages. The last decade has witnessed an unprecedented interest in the study of AMD communities using 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing and community genomic and postgenomic methodologies, significantly advancing our understanding of microbial diversity, community function, and evolution in acidic environments. This review describes new data on AMD microbial ecology and evolution, especially dynamics of microbial diversity, community functions, and population genomes, and further identifies gaps in our current knowledge that future research, with integrated applications of meta-omics technologies, will fill.

TrendsContemporary environmental variation determines the distribution patterns of microbial diversity in acid mine drainage.Relatively deep community genomic sequencing allows genome reconstruction and functional partitioning analysis of both dominant and rare species in microbial communities.Multi-omics-enabled, community- and organism-wide analyses are revealing the response and adaptation mechanisms of acidophilic microbes to different environmental conditions and stresses.Evolutionary processes could be inferred from within-population genomic variation.