Mobile Genetic Elements Shape Microbial Diversity and Functions in Thawing Permafrost Soils

Authors

• Jiarong Guo, The Ohio State University
• Samuel T. N. Aroney, Queensland University of Technology (QUT)
• Guillermo Domínguez-Huerta, The Ohio State University
• Derek Smith, Case Western Reserve University
• Dean Vik, The Ohio State University
• Carlos Owusu-Ansah, The Ohio State University
• Akbar Adjie Pratama, The Ohio State University
• Sergei Solonenko, The Ohio State University
• Funing Tian, The Ohio State University
• Cristina Howard-Varona, The Ohio State University
• Zhi-Ping Zhong, The Ohio State University
• Aminata Fofana, The Ohio State University
• Garrett J. Smith, The Ohio State University
• Suzanne B. Hodgkins, The Ohio State University
• Dylan Cronin, The Ohio State University
• IsoGenie Field Teams 2010–2017, 2019
• EMERGE Coordinators
• Ben J. Woodcroft, Queensland University of Technology (QUT)
• Gene W. Tyson, Queensland University of Technology (QUT)
• Virginia I. Rich, The Ohio State University
• Matthew B. Sullivan, The Ohio State University
• Simon Roux, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
• Sarah C. Bagby, Case Western Reserve University
• Michael Ibba, Chapman UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

6-29-2026

Abstract

Ecosystems are shaped by communities of microorganisms whose niches and impacts depend on functional profiles influenced by gene gains and losses. Culture-based experiments demonstrate that mobile genetic elements (MGEs) can mediate gene flux, but quantitative understanding of these dynamics in natural systems remains limited. Here we develop and apply a systematic, meta-omic framework to investigate MGEs in a complex natural system using an 8-year soil time series collected at Stordalen Mire, in Sweden’s thawing permafrost margin. In this climate-critical peatland, we identify ~2.1 million MGE recombinases across 89 microbial phyla and assess ecological distributions, affected functions, past mobility and current activity. This revealed an active mobilome that shapes natural genetic diversity via differential impacts on major phyla and affects a wide range of functions, including metabolic genes involved in carbon flux and nutrient cycling. These findings and this analytic framework suggest avenues towards a better understanding of MGE diversity, activity, mobility and impacts across ecosystems.

Comments

This article was originally published in Nature Microbiology, volume 11, in 2026. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-026-02391-7

*Michael Ibba is one of the EMERGE Coordinators in this study.

Recommended Citation

Guo, J., Aroney, S.T.N., Domínguez-Huerta, G. et al. Mobile genetic elements shape microbial diversity and functions in thawing permafrost soils. Nat Microbiol 11, 1800–1814 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-026-02391-7

Copyright

The authors

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.