Lineage-specific metabolic transcription across environmental gradients in geothermal microbial communities.

Metabolic transcription in Tengchong hot springs shifts with pH, temperature, and organic matter, with acidic organic-rich sites showing lineage-linked heterotrophic and sulfur-metabolism programs.

• Why it matters: Metagenomics maps metabolic potential, but it is unclear how those functions are actually expressed across environmental gradients and which microbial lineages track those changes.
• What they did: The study combined genome-resolved metagenomics and metatranscriptomics with co-expression network analysis across geothermal environments in Tengchong hot springs.
• The result: Acidic, organic-rich springs show Mesoaciditogales linked to coenzyme and purine biosynthesis and Thermoplasmatales linked to sulfur reduction and central carbon metabolism, while non-acidic thermal springs show carbon fixation and sulfur oxidation transcripts tied to specific lineages.

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