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. 2025 Apr 10;13(4):869.
doi: 10.3390/microorganisms13040869.

Microbial Diversity, Co-Occurrence Patterns, and Functional Genes of Bacteria in Aged Coking Contaminated Soils by Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons: Implications to Soil Health and Bioremediation

Liping Zheng  1   2   3 , Yifan Yan  3 , Qun Li  3 , Junyang Du  3 , Xiaosong Lu  3 , Li Xu  1   2   4 , Qunhui Xie  1   2   4 , Yangsheng Chen  4 , Aiguo Zhang  3 , Bin Zhao  4
Affiliations

Microbial Diversity, Co-Occurrence Patterns, and Functional Genes of Bacteria in Aged Coking Contaminated Soils by Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons: Implications to Soil Health and Bioremediation

Liping Zheng et al. Microorganisms. .

Abstract

PAH contamination from coking plants have received widespread attention. However, the microbial diversity, co-occurrence patterns, and functional genes of bacteria in aged coking contaminated soils by PAHs are still not clear. In our study, we used a macro-genetic approach to detect PAH-contaminated soils from both a coking production area (CA group) and an office zone (OA group) in an abandoned coking plant, and analyzed the characteristic bacteria and function genes, microbial network interaction patterns, and soil P-cycling in long-term PAH-contaminated soils. The results revealed that Proteobacteria were significantly positively correlated with PAHs and Betaprobacteria bacterium rifcsplowo2 12 full 6514, candidatus Muproteobacteria bacterium RBG16609, and Sulfurifustis variabilis, which belong to Proteobacteria, were characteristic bacteria in PAH-contaminated soils. The phn, which is the PAH degradation gene, was abundantly expressed in the PAH-contaminated soil. The phn gene cluster genes (phnE, phnC, and phnD) were significantly expressed in the CA group of PAH-contaminated soils (p < 0.05). By integrating microbial diversity, network structure, and functional genes, it offers a comprehensive understanding of soil ecosystem response indicators to prolonged PAH stress. The results of this study will provide new ideas for constructing an assessment index system for soil health and screening biomarkers for PAH-contaminated soils.

Keywords: PAHs; co-occurrence patterns; coking plant; functional gene; microbial diversity.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Remote sensing image of the study area.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Distribution of PAHs depending on the number of rings in the molecule.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Correlation between the top 10 phylum and PAHs.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Annotated branching map of different species.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Co-occurrence networks of microbial communities. (a) Different modularity classes; (b) node colors indicate different phyla. The red line means positive correlation and the green line means negative correlation.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Significantly different functional genes.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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