Mobilome drives microbial diversity and function in Arctic thaw soils
An eight-year meta-omic study of Stordalen Mire soils reveals ~2.1 million mobile genetic element (MGE) recombinases across 89 microbial phyla, with insertion sequences/transposons dominating and an active mobilome reshaping host gene content and metabolic functions—especially those related to carbon flux and nutrient cycling—across palsa, bog and fen habitats. By comparing short- and long-read assemblies, the work quantifies MGE recovery and mobility, provides metatranscriptomic/metagenomic metrics of MGE activity, and offers a framework to quantify MGEs’ ecological impacts in complex natural microbiomes during permafrost thaw.
