Soils from Picher, Oklahoma, USA Metagenome. Soils from Picher, Oklahoma, USA

Picher, Oklahoma, USA, was the site of large-scale mining operations for Pb, Zn, and other heavy metals until the mid-1950s, operating within the Tri-State Mining District (TSMD) of Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma. Although mining ceased decades ago, high concentrations of heavy metals (>1000 ppm) remain in area soil and water systems. Previously, we mapped metal concentrations on samples collected from mine tailings in Picher and along cardinal-direction transects within an 8.05-km radius of the town (Beattie et al. 2017). To elucidate changes in microbial community structure due to regional metal contamination, 16S rRNA gene sequences and qPCR calculations of total Bacteria and Archaea were analyzed against these metal concentrations. Mapping the distribution of heavy-metal contamination and microbial communities in these soils represents the first step in understanding effects of long-term, heavy-metal contamination at a basic trophic level.