Aifen Zhou | Search PubMed

PubMed2026

DURABLE: A Workflow for Determining Corrosion-Driving and Protective Microbial Mechanisms.

Microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC) threatens global infrastructure, causing billions of dollars in annual losses. Its persistence stems from unresolved mechanisms─particularly the metabolites produced by microorganisms that drive or inhibit corrosion─and the microbial community structures. Progress has been hindered by the absence of systematic workflows to rapidly and accurately identify MIC-relevant microorganisms and their functions. Here, we present DURABLE (Detection of Unique Corrosion Resistant or Accelerating Biologics in a Laboratory Environment), a pipeline that couples high-throughput microbial screening with genomic and metabolic workflows. We applied the DURABLE workflow to six diesel tank samples and revealed fuel-dependent microbial community structures, which showed greater diversity and evenness in bacterial communities than their fungal counterparts. The workflow used carbon steel beads to rapidly screen over 80 bacterial isolates for corrosive activity, reducing assay time to approximately 2 days compared with the conventional 30-day metal coupon test. More than 40 isolates were identified as corrosive. Further testing using mass spectrometry analysis revealed corrosion-associated metabolites, which were further validated using electrochemical assays. Thus, DURABLE achieved a ∼15-fold increase in screening speed and provided a scalable and mechanistic framework for dissecting MIC dynamics. We expect this advance will enable the development of precision mitigation strategies in hydrocarbon fuel infrastructure.

Bacteria↗

PubMed2026

Increased precipitation decelerates temporal succession of grassland soil microbial communities.

Global precipitation regimes have been shifted in recent decades, imposing significant consequences in water-limited grassland ecosystems. However, the effects of increased precipitation on the succession of soil microbial communities remain unclear, mainly due to the scarcity of long-term experiments with time-series data. Here, we examined temporal succession of grassland soil microbial communities in a long-term increased precipitation experiment. Both soil microbial taxonomic and functional structures were significantly altered by increased precipitation. Increased precipitation significantly decelerated the succession rates of soil microbial functional structure (i.e. time-decay relationships). Consistent with the increased microbial decomposition and heterotrophic respiration, the abundances of soil microbial carbon decomposition genes were markedly enhanced by increased precipitation. Furthermore, increased precipitation stimulated genes involved in nutrient cycling processes, potentially promoting plant growth. Collectively, the contributions of stochastic processes in shaping microbial communities were increased under increased precipitation, suggesting that microbial successional trajectories may shift toward multiple alternative states characterized by greater stochasticity under future altered precipitation regimes.

Soil Microbiology↗