Community assembly mechanisms and co-occurrence patterns of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria communities in saline soils

Nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB) catalyze the second step of nitrification by oxidizing nitrite to nitrate, which is a key process in the biogeochemical nitrogen cycling. However, little is known about the co-occurrence patterns and assembly processes of NOB communities in agricultural soils with different salinities. Here, we explored the effects of salinity on Nitrobacter and Nitrospira community using high-throughput sequencing and multivariate statistical analyses. Our results showed that high salinity significantly inhibited the nitrite oxidation rates and decreased the abundance of Nitrobacter and Nitrospira. Extreme salty conditions significantly altered the diversity and composition of Nitrospira community but had little effect on Nitrobacter community. Nitrobacter network in high salinity soils was more closely connected while the connectivity of Nitrospira network became weak. Nitrobacter and Nitrospira community exhibited distinct assembly processes at different salinity levels. Stochastic processes were dominant in the Nitrobacter community assembly in both low and high salinity soils. Interestingly, the assembly of Nitrospira community was governed by stochastic and deterministic processes in low and high salinity soils, respectively. To our knowledge, our study provides the first description of the co-occurrence patterns and assembly processes of NOB communities in agricultural soils with different salinities. These results can help us understand the NOB ecological roles and improve the nitrite oxidation activity in a high salinity environment.