Humic Lake Exhibits Higher Microbial Functional Gene Diversity and Weaker Gene Interaction Efficiency than a Common Alkaline Lake

SIMPLE SUMMARY: The humic lake represents a special kind of aquatic ecosystem with high humic substances, low irradiance, and a high potential for greenhouse gas emissions. Despite the special environment and biogeochemical processes in humic lake water, knowledge about the underlying microbial-driven functions remains elusive. Here, we studied the compositions and functional gene structures of microbial communities in a humic lake (HL) and a reference weakly alkaline lake (RAL). We found that the high organic matter content in the HL supported higher gene diversity; and, specifically, the carbon and nitrogen fixations, the degradation of various types of carbon, methane oxidation and methanogenesis, ammonification, denitrification, and assimilatory N reduction might be enhanced more in the HL than in the RAL. By contrast, the humic fractions in the HL might reduce microbial metabolic potential for sulfur oxidation and phosphorus degradation. The potential interactions between different functional microorganisms might be down-regulated provided that there were more easily acquired nutrients in the HL. Overall, our results showed the functional gene “landscape” of microbial communities in the surface water of a humic lake, which helps understand the biogeochemical processes and the remediation of organic matter pollution in lacustrine ecosystems. ABSTRACT: Humic lakes (HLs) are special water bodies (high organic matter content, low pH, and low transparency) that are important sources of major greenhouse gases. The knowledge about microbial functional potentials and the interactions among different genes in HL water has been scarcely understood. In this study, we used 16S rRNA gene sequencing and the GeoChip 5.0 to investigate microbial community compositions and functional gene structures in an HL and a reference weakly alkaline lake (RAL). The HL microbial communities showed distinct compositions and functional gene structures than those in the RAL. The functional gene diversity was significantly higher in the HL than in the RAL. Specifically, higher gene relative intensities in carbon and nitrogen fixations, the degradation of various types of carbon, methane oxidation and methanogenesis, ammonification, denitrification, and assimilatory N reduction were observed in the HL samples. By contrast, the metabolic potentials of microorganisms involved in dissimilatory N reduction, phosphorus degradation, and sulfur oxidation were weaker in the HL than in the RAL. Despite higher functional gene diversity, the interaction efficiency among genes (reflected by network geodesic distance and clustering coefficient) might be reduced in the HL. Different functional microbes may develop less interdependent relationships in acquiring nutrients given the high resource availability in the HL. Overall, the enhanced microbial metabolic potentials and less efficient functional interactions might have great consequences on nutrient cycling and greenhouse gas emissions in the HL ecosystem.