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Peer-reviewedCC BYNature Microbiology

Mobile genetic elements shape microbial diversity and functions in thawing permafrost soils

  • Jiarong Guo1,2,3
  • Samuel T. N. Aroney4
  • Guillermo Domínguez‐Huerta1,5,2
  • Derek A. Smith6
  • Dean Vik1,2
  • Carlos Owusu-Ansah7,2
  • Akbar Adjie Pratama8,2,9
  • Sergei A. Solonenko2
  • Funing Tian1,2
  • Cristina Howard‐Varona1,2
  • Zhi-Ping Zhong10,1,2,11
  • Aminata Fofana2
28 more authors
  • Garrett J. Smith1,2
  • Suzanne B. Hodgkins2
  • Dylan Cronin6,2
  • 2019 IsoGenie Field Teams 2010–201712,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20
  • Darya Anderson21
  • Kathryn Ann Bennett22
  • Sky Dominguez21
  • M. F. Fahnestock22
  • Moira Hough23
  • Joachim Jansen18
  • Rhiannon Mondav24
  • Apryl Perry25
  • Gareth Trubl2,26
  • R. K. Varner25,17
  • EMERGE Coordinators
  • Patrick Crill17
  • Jessica G. Ernakovich27
  • Régis Ferrière23,28
  • Mike Ibba29
  • Malak Tfaily21
  • R. K. Varner25,17
  • Ahmed A. Zayed2
  • Ben J. Woodcroft4
  • Gene W. Tyson4
  • Virginia I. Rich10,1,2
  • Matthew B. Sullivan30,31,32,33,34
  • Simon Roux35
  • Sarah C. Bagby36
36 affiliations
  1. 1Center of Microbiome Science, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
  2. 2Department of Microbiology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
  3. 3Division of Intramural Research, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
  4. 4Centre for Microbiome Research, School of Biomedical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Translational Research Institute, Woolloongabba, Queensland, Australia
  5. 5Centro Oceanográfico de Málaga (IEO-CSIC), Malaga, Spain
  6. 6Department of Biology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA
  7. 7Biophysics Graduate Program, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
  8. 8Cluster of Excellence Balance of the Microverse, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany
  9. 9Institute of Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolution, Aquatic Geomicrobiology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany
  10. 10Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
  11. 11State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Environment, and Resources, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
  12. 12Australian Centre for Ecogenomics, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland Australia
  13. 13Department of Earth Sciences and Earth Systems Research Center, Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH USA
  14. 14Department of Earth Sciences, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH USA
  15. 15Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ USA
  16. 16Department of Environmental Science, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ USA
  17. 17Department of Geological Sciences and Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
  18. 18Department of Geological Sciences, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
  19. 19Department of Microbiology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH USA
  20. 20Physical and Life Sciences Directorate, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA USA
  21. 21Department of Environmental Science, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
  22. 22Department of Earth Sciences, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, USA
  23. 23Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
  24. 24Australian Centre for Ecogenomics, School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
  25. 25Department of Earth Sciences and Earth Systems Research Center, Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, USA
  26. 26Physical and Life Sciences Directorate, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA, USA
  27. 27Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH, USA
  28. 28Institut de Biologie de l’Ecole Normale Supérieure, Université Paris Sciences & Lettres, Paris, France
  29. 29Schmid College of Science and Technology, Chapman University, Orange, CA, USA
  30. 30Biophysics Graduate Program, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA. [email protected]
  31. 31Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA. [email protected]
  32. 32Center of Microbiome Science, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA. [email protected]
  33. 33Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geodetic Engineering, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA. [email protected]
  34. 34Department of Microbiology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA. [email protected]
  35. 35DOE Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA. [email protected]
  36. 36Department of Biology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA. [email protected]
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Abstract

Ecosystems are shaped by communities of microorganisms whose niches and impacts depend on functional profiles influenced by gene gains and losses. Culture-based experiments demonstrate that mobile genetic elements (MGEs) can mediate gene flux, but quantitative understanding of these dynamics in natural systems remains limited. Here we develop and apply a systematic, meta-omic framework to investigate MGEs in a complex natural system using an 8-year soil time series collected at Stordalen Mire, in Sweden's thawing permafrost margin. In this climate-critical peatland, we identify ~2.1 million MGE recombinases across 89 microbial phyla and assess ecological distributions, affected functions, past mobility and current activity. This revealed an active mobilome that shapes natural genetic diversity via differential impacts on major phyla and affects a wide range of functions, including metabolic genes involved in carbon flux and nutrient cycling. These findings and this analytic framework suggest avenues towards a better understanding of MGE diversity, activity, mobility and impacts across ecosystems.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{guo2026mobile,
  title = {{Mobile genetic elements shape microbial diversity and functions in thawing permafrost soils}},
  author = {Jiarong Guo and Samuel T. N. Aroney and Guillermo Domínguez‐Huerta and Derek A. Smith and Dean Vik and Carlos Owusu-Ansah and Akbar Adjie Pratama and Sergei A. Solonenko and Funing Tian and Cristina Howard‐Varona and Zhi-Ping Zhong and Aminata Fofana and Garrett J. Smith and Suzanne B. Hodgkins and Dylan Cronin and 2019 IsoGenie Field Teams 2010–2017 and Darya Anderson and Kathryn Ann Bennett and Sky Dominguez and M. F. Fahnestock and Moira Hough and Joachim Jansen and Rhiannon Mondav and Apryl Perry and Gareth Trubl and R. K. Varner and EMERGE Coordinators and Patrick Crill and Jessica G. Ernakovich and Régis Ferrière and Mike Ibba and Malak Tfaily and R. K. Varner and Ahmed A. Zayed and Ben J. Woodcroft and Gene W. Tyson and Virginia I. Rich and Matthew B. Sullivan and Simon Roux and Sarah C. Bagby},
  journal = {Nature Microbiology},
  year = {2026},
  month = jun,
  doi = {10.1038/s41564-026-02391-7},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-026-02391-7},
  note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Mobile genetic elements shape microbial diversity and functions in thawing permafrost soils
AU  - Jiarong Guo
AU  - Samuel T. N. Aroney
AU  - Guillermo Domínguez‐Huerta
AU  - Derek A. Smith
AU  - Dean Vik
AU  - Carlos Owusu-Ansah
AU  - Akbar Adjie Pratama
AU  - Sergei A. Solonenko
AU  - Funing Tian
AU  - Cristina Howard‐Varona
AU  - Zhi-Ping Zhong
AU  - Aminata Fofana
AU  - Garrett J. Smith
AU  - Suzanne B. Hodgkins
AU  - Dylan Cronin
AU  - 2019 IsoGenie Field Teams 2010–2017
AU  - Darya Anderson
AU  - Kathryn Ann Bennett
AU  - Sky Dominguez
AU  - M. F. Fahnestock
AU  - Moira Hough
AU  - Joachim Jansen
AU  - Rhiannon Mondav
AU  - Apryl Perry
AU  - Gareth Trubl
AU  - R. K. Varner
AU  - EMERGE Coordinators
AU  - Patrick Crill
AU  - Jessica G. Ernakovich
AU  - Régis Ferrière
AU  - Mike Ibba
AU  - Malak Tfaily
AU  - R. K. Varner
AU  - Ahmed A. Zayed
AU  - Ben J. Woodcroft
AU  - Gene W. Tyson
AU  - Virginia I. Rich
AU  - Matthew B. Sullivan
AU  - Simon Roux
AU  - Sarah C. Bagby
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/06/29
JO  - Nature Microbiology
DO  - 10.1038/s41564-026-02391-7
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-026-02391-7
AB  - Ecosystems are shaped by communities of microorganisms whose niches and impacts depend on functional profiles influenced by gene gains and losses. Culture-based experiments demonstrate that mobile genetic elements (MGEs) can mediate gene flux, but quantitative understanding of these dynamics in natural systems remains limited. Here we develop and apply a systematic, meta-omic framework to investigate MGEs in a complex natural system using an 8-year soil time series collected at Stordalen Mire, in Sweden's thawing permafrost margin. In this climate-critical peatland, we identify ~2.1 million MGE recombinases across 89 microbial phyla and assess ecological distributions, affected functions, past mobility and current activity. This revealed an active mobilome that shapes natural genetic diversity via differential impacts on major phyla and affects a wide range of functions, including metabolic genes involved in carbon flux and nutrient cycling. These findings and this analytic framework suggest avenues towards a better understanding of MGE diversity, activity, mobility and impacts across ecosystems.
SN  - 2058-5276
ER  -