Genome-resolved metagenomics reveals nonmethanogenic soil lineages in an Andean páramo wetland
Abstract
Wetlands are the largest natural source of atmospheric methane, and tropical wetlands are projected to drive the greatest increase in emissions under climate change, yet high-altitude tropical systems remain largely absent from global frameworks predicting this response. Here, we investigated soil metagenomes from the páramo ecosystem in Chingaza National Natural Park, Colombia, across three ecosites. Microbial community composition differed significantly among ecosites, with peatland soils exhibiting the highest diversity. Genome-resolved metagenomics recovered 109 high-quality metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs); 8.3% (9 MAGs) could not be assigned to any described genus, representing phylogenetically novel lineages, while 37.6% (41 MAGs) were absent from the wetland-specific MUCC database but present in GTDB. Functional analyses revealed widespread Wood–Ljungdahl pathway potential, complemented by the bacterial reductive glycine pathway and reverse tricarboxylic acid cycle. No methanogenesis marker (mcrABG) was detected in any high- or medium-quality genomes or assembled contigs, identifying the genomically resolved community as nonmethanogenic. A read-level search nonetheless recovered a low-abundance methanogen signal concentrated in peatland and affiliated with hydrogenotrophic lineages typical of acidic peatlands, indicating that methanogenesis is present but minor. Metabolic potential instead supported acetogenic carbon fixation and sulfate reduction, suggesting a carbon-cycling regime distinct from canonical methane-dominated wetlands. Together, these findings establish tropical alpine páramos as overlooked reservoirs of phylogenetically novel microbial diversity with metabolic potential distinct from other wetlands. Public release of these MAGs expands genomic representation of tropical alpine ecosystems and provides a foundation for improving predictions of carbon cycling in high-altitude ecosystems.
Related
- Genome-resolved metagenomics reveals the taxonomic and functional landscape of the rumen microbiome in Japanese Black × Holstein cattle and its associations with carcass traits
- Genome-resolved metagenomics reveals metabolically versatile Actinobacteria with extensive biosynthetic capacity in Hawaiian steam vents
- Genome-resolved metagenomics reveals seasonally defined life strategies in hypersaline sediments
- Genome-resolved ecology and evolution of the microbiome enabled by quantitative long-read metagenomics
- Longitudinal strain-level metagenomics reveals reciprocal Lactobacillus dynamics and outcome-associated protein variants during IVF treatment
BibTeX
@article{betancurtanzola2026genomeresolved,
title = {{Genome-resolved metagenomics reveals nonmethanogenic soil lineages in an Andean páramo wetland}},
author = {Daniela Betancurt-Anzola and Joan Vanegas and Sophie K Jurgensen and Kelly C Wrighton and Johanna Santamaría-Vanegas and Estelle Couradeau},
journal = {ISME Communications},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1093/ismeco/ycag294},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1093/ismeco/ycag294},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Genome-resolved metagenomics reveals nonmethanogenic soil lineages in an Andean páramo wetland
AU - Daniela Betancurt-Anzola
AU - Joan Vanegas
AU - Sophie K Jurgensen
AU - Kelly C Wrighton
AU - Johanna Santamaría-Vanegas
AU - Estelle Couradeau
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/11
JO - ISME Communications
DO - 10.1093/ismeco/ycag294
UR - https://doi.org/10.1093/ismeco/ycag294
AB - Wetlands are the largest natural source of atmospheric methane, and tropical wetlands are projected to drive the greatest increase in emissions under climate change, yet high-altitude tropical systems remain largely absent from global frameworks predicting this response. Here, we investigated soil metagenomes from the páramo ecosystem in Chingaza National Natural Park, Colombia, across three ecosites. Microbial community composition differed significantly among ecosites, with peatland soils exhibiting the highest diversity. Genome-resolved metagenomics recovered 109 high-quality metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs); 8.3% (9 MAGs) could not be assigned to any described genus, representing phylogenetically novel lineages, while 37.6% (41 MAGs) were absent from the wetland-specific MUCC database but present in GTDB. Functional analyses revealed widespread Wood–Ljungdahl pathway potential, complemented by the bacterial reductive glycine pathway and reverse tricarboxylic acid cycle. No methanogenesis marker (mcrABG) was detected in any high- or medium-quality genomes or assembled contigs, identifying the genomically resolved community as nonmethanogenic. A read-level search nonetheless recovered a low-abundance methanogen signal concentrated in peatland and affiliated with hydrogenotrophic lineages typical of acidic peatlands, indicating that methanogenesis is present but minor. Metabolic potential instead supported acetogenic carbon fixation and sulfate reduction, suggesting a carbon-cycling regime distinct from canonical methane-dominated wetlands. Together, these findings establish tropical alpine páramos as overlooked reservoirs of phylogenetically novel microbial diversity with metabolic potential distinct from other wetlands. Public release of these MAGs expands genomic representation of tropical alpine ecosystems and provides a foundation for improving predictions of carbon cycling in high-altitude ecosystems.
SN - 2730-6151
ER -