Community Analysis Of Southern Appalachian Fens, And Characterization And Isolation Of A Novel Bacterium And Order

Peatlands of all latitudes play an integral role in global climate change by serving as a carbon sink and a primary source of atmospheric methane; however, the microbial ecology of mid-latitude peatlands is vastly understudied. Herein, next generation Illumina amplicon sequencing of small subunit rRNA genes was utilized to elucidate the microbial communities in three southern Appalachian peatlands. In contrast to northern peatlands, Proteobacteria dominated over Acidobacteria in all three sites. Members of the Proteobacteria, including Alphaproteobacteria are known to utilize simple sugars and methane among other substrates. However, results described here and in previous studies, indicate that bacteria of the candidate order, Ellin 329, may also be involved in poly- and di-saccharide hydrolysis. Additionally, a novel isolate strain CS4 is proposed as a novel genus and species, Micropepsia pineolensis within the proposed novel family and order Micropepsiaceae and Micropepsiales.