Metagenomic analysis reveals microbial diversity and function in the rhizosphere soil of a constructed wetland

Microbial communities play a critical role in the degradation of effluent contaminants in constructed wetlands. Many questions remain, however, regarding the role of microbial communities in rhizospheric soil. In this study, we used metagenomic analysis to assess microbial community composition and function in a constructed wetland receiving surface water. The diversity of the microbial community of rhizosphere soil was found to be significantly greater than that of the wetland influent water. This enhancement is likely due to the availability of diverse habitats and nutrients provided by the wetland plants. From function annotation of metagenomic data, a number of biodegradation pathways associated with 14 xenobiotic compounds were identified in soil. Nitrogen fixation, nitrification and denitrification genes were semi-quantitatively analysed. By screening of manganese transformation genes, we found that the biological oxidation of Mn²⁺ (mainly catalysed by multicopper oxidase) in the influent water yielded insoluble Mn⁴⁺, which subsequently precipitated and were incorporated into the wetland soil. These data show that the use of metagenomic analysis can provide important new insights for the study of wetland ecosystems and, in particular, how biologically mediated transformation or degradation can be used to reduce contamination of point and non-point source wastewater.