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

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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Publication Details

Journal
Nature Microbiology
Published
2026-06-29
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-026-02391-7
Primary Topic
Polar Research and Ecology
Type
article
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article

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

Dylan Cronin, Virginia I. Rich, Matthew B. Sullivan, Cristina Howard‐Varona et al.
Nature Microbiology
Polar Research and Ecology
article

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

Dylan Cronin, Virginia I. Rich, Matthew B. Sullivan, Cristina Howard‐Varona, Simon Roux, Darya Anderson, Zhi-Ping Zhong, Régis Ferrière, Jiarong Guo, Ben J. Woodcroft, Rhiannon Mondav, Gene W. Tyson, M. F. Fahnestock, Gareth Trubl, Jessica G. Ernakovich, Malak Tfaily, Sky Dominguez, Suzanne B. Hodgkins, Akbar Adjie Pratama, Samuel T. N. Aroney, Joachim Jansen, Sarah C. Bagby, Funing Tian, Garrett J. Smith, Carlos Owusu-Ansah, Derek A. Smith, Guillermo Domínguez-Huerta, Apryl Perry, Dean Vik, Ahmed A. Zayed, Mike Ibba, Kathryn Bennett, EMERGE Coordinators, Patrick Crill, Aminata Fofana, Sergei Solonenko, 2019 IsoGenie Field Teams 2010–2017, Moira Hough, Ruth K. Varner
article en

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.

Nature Microbiology
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (US), National Institutes of Health (US), Translational Research Institute (AU), University of Arizona (US), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (US), Queensland University of Technology (AU), University of New Hampshire (US), Stockholm University (SE), The University of Queensland (AU), Chapman University (US), Joint Genome Institute (US), United States National Library of Medicine (US), Instituto Español de Oceanografía (ES), Institut de Biologie de l'École Normale Supérieure (FR), Louisiana Department of Natural Resources (US), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research (CN), Bolin Centre for Climate Research (SE), The Ohio State University (US), Case Western Reserve University (US), Friedrich Schiller University Jena (DE), Universidad de Málaga (ES)
Climate action
Openalex Percentile: Top 8%
Polar Research and Ecology
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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