Characteristics of soil microbial community structure in ant nests in orchards in southern China

【Objective】To explore the specific microorganisms and theirfunctionsin ant nests inorchards insouthern China, and provide the theoretical basis for seraching fuctional microorganism resourcesandsoil ecological management in orchards in southern China.【Method】Soil samples, which collected from ant nests(AN) of Camponotus japonicus and non-ant nests(CK) inlychee garden in southern China, their characteristics of microbial community structures were analyzed using high-throughput sequencing technology.【Result】Even though the microbial diversity and richness in soils of ant nests were not significantly affected by ant nest formation(P>0.05), the composition and proportion of bacteria and fungi in soils of ant nests were changed. Cyanobacteria and WPS-2 were the unique dominant bacterial phyla in soils of ant nests;by contrast, Gemmatimonadetes, Bacteroidetes and Verrucomicrobia were the specific dominant phyla in soils of non-ant nests. Moreover, compared to the non-ant nest, the proportions of soil bacteria at phylum level, such as Proteobacteria and Acidobacteria decreased, but Actinobac teria and Chloroflexi increased in soils of ant nests. In addition, the composition of fungi at phylum level was the samein soils between ant nests and non-ant nests, they were all formed with Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, Mortierellomycota and unclassified_k__Fungi. However, their proportions and abundances were changed in soils of ant nests which compared to non-ant nests. For example, compared to the soils of non-ant nests, the percentages of Mortierellomy cota decreased, but the unclassified_k__Fungi increased at phylum level in soils of ant nests. Meanwhile, Conexibacter, unclassified_f__Ktedonobacteraceae, norank_o__B12-WMSP1, norank_p__WPS-2, norank_o__Chloroplast, Mycobacterium, FCPS473, Sphingomonas, norank_f__JG30-KF-CM45, unclassified_f__Intrasporangiaceae and Sinomonas were the unique dominant bacteria, and Rickenella, Arthrobotrys, Coniosporium, unclassified_c__Eurotiomycetes, Trechispora, unclassified_o__Pezizales, unclassified_o__Pleosporales, Xepicula, Phoma, Aspergillus were the specific dominant fungi in soils of ant nests at genus level, respectively.【Conclusion】The abundant resources of benefit microorganisms, which have the functions of excretion of antibiotics and bio-remediation all can be found and accumulated in soils of ant nests. It suggests that the soil of ant nests is a potential treasure of biological resources.