Heavy-metal stress shapes habitat-specific microbial survival strategies in estuarine environments.

Heavy-metal pollution in estuarine environments is linked to habitat-specific microbial survival strategies, with sediment communities showing the highest diversity and unique resistance genes.

• Why it matters: Understanding microbial adaptations to heavy metals is crucial for managing pollution impacts on estuarine ecosystems, yet the diversity and functional responses across habitats remain poorly characterized.
• What they did: The study used high-throughput amplicon sequencing and metagenome-assembled genomes from three estuaries with varying metal contamination to analyze bacterial and fungal community composition and resistance mechanisms.
• The result: Findings show habitat-specific resistance strategies, with free-living and particle-attached communities relying more on active efflux and oxidative stress defenses, while sediment communities exhibit potential for sulfate reduction that may immobilize metals.