Geochip 5.0 insights into the association between bioleaching of heavy metals from contaminated sediment and functional genes expressed in consortiums

The heavy metal contamination in river and lake sediments endangers aquatic ecosystems. Herein, the feasibility of applying different exogenous mesophile consortiums in bioleaching multiple heavy metal-contaminated sediments from Xiangjiang River was investigated, and a comprehensive functional gene array (GeoChip 5.0) was used to analyze the functional gene expression to reveal the intrinsic association between metal solubilization efficiency and consortium structure. Among four consortiums, the Acidithiobacillus thiooxidans and Leptospirillum ferrooxidans consortium had the highest solubilization efficiencies of Cu, Pb, Zn, and Cd after 15 days, reaching 50.33, 29.93, 47.49, and 79.65%, while Cu, Pb, and Hg had the highest solubilization efficiencies after 30 days, reaching 63.67, 45.33, and 52.07%. Geochip analysis revealed that 31,346 genes involved in different biogeochemical processes had been detected, and the systems of 15 days had lower proportions of unique genes than those of 30 days. Samples from the same stage had more genes overlapping with each other than those from different stages. Plentiful metal-resistant and organic remediation genes were also detected, which means the metal detoxification and organic pollutant degradation had happened with the bioleaching process. The Mantel test revealed that Pb, Zn, As, Cd, and Hg solubilized from sediment influenced the structure of expressed microbial functional genes during bioleaching. This work employed GeoChip to demonstrate the intrinsic association between functional gene expression of mesophile consortiums and the bioleaching efficiency of heavy metal-contaminated sediment, and it provides a good reference for future microbial consortium design and remediation of river and lake sediments.