Breaking the priority effects facilitates the assembly and colonization of microbiomes toward enhanced petroleum hydrocarbon biodegradationDownload PDF Download PDF ArticleOpen accessPublished: 11 September 2026Ying Zhu ORCID: orcid.org/0009-0002-0887-18071,2,Jufeng Li3,Futang Hu4,Qihui Hou ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-0451-299X5,Guoqiang Zhuang1,2,6,Xuliang Zhuang1,2,Maoyong Song1,2,Ilana Kolodkin-Gal ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-8464-56607 &…Anzhou Ma ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6197-777X1,2 npj Biofilms and Microbiomes (2026) Cite this articleSave articleView saved research We’re sharing this article early to provide faster access to peer-reviewed, accepted research. It is citable and carries a permanent DOI. This version is subject to further edits and will be replaced automatically by the final Version of Record. All legal disclaimers apply.AbstractPriority effects exerted by indigenous microbial communities pose a major ecological barrier to bioremediation, preventing the stable establishment of introduced bioaugmentation strains through niche preemption and modification. Here, we developed a fine-tuned chemical pretreatment strategy to rapidly break the priority effects of indigenous microbiomes, thereby facilitating the targeted assembly and sustainable colonization of functional degraders in total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH)-contaminated soil. Our results demonstrate that this strategy successfully overcame the priority effects of the indigenous microbiome, increasing the colonization capacity of the introduced degrader, Bacillus velezensis, by 560.43% and achieving a stable TPH removal efficiency of 63.21% without rebound. The intervention expanded the niche breadth of B. velezensis by 54.71% through niche modification, thereby reducing niche occupancy by indigenous microbiomes. Disruption of priority effects further reshaped microbial community assembly, promoting the enrichment of rare indigenous taxa with hydrocarbon-degrading potential, including Providencia and Citrobacter. Metagenomic and metabolic pathway analyses revealed that successful colonization of B. velezensis enhanced metabolic cooperation with indigenous rare degraders, collectively improving the degradation of both alkanes and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. These findings establish a general ecological framework for manipulating microbiome assembly through priority-effect regulation and provide a practical strategy for microbiome engineering across contaminated ecosystems.AcknowledgementsThe authors thank the Drilling & Production Technology Research Institute of Qinghai Oilfield Company, China, for providing the field test site and assistance with on-site experiments and sample collection. This work is funded by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2024YFA0919000) and the Weiqiao-UCAS Special Projects on Low-Carbon Technology Development, China (GYY-NYHJ-2023-ZY-001). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Author informationAuthors and AffiliationsResearch Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, ChinaYing Zhu, Guoqiang Zhuang, Xuliang Zhuang, Maoyong Song & Anzhou MaCollege of Resources and Environment, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, ChinaYing Zhu, Guoqiang Zhuang, Xuliang Zhuang, Maoyong Song & Anzhou MaState Key Laboratory of Petroleum Pollution Control, China National Petroleum Corporation Research Institute of Safety & Environment Technology, Beijing, ChinaJufeng LiOil & Gas Production Technology Research Institute, Qinghai Oilfield Co., Petro China, Dunhuang, ChinaFutang HuDepartment of Physics and Shenzhen Research Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, ChinaQihui HouBinzhou Institute of Technology, Weiqiao-UCAS Science and Technology Park, Binzhou, ChinaGuoqiang ZhuangScojen Institute for Synthetic Biology, The Dina Recanati School of Medicine, Reichman University, Herzliya, IsraelIlana Kolodkin-GalAuthorsYing ZhuView author publicationsSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarJufeng LiView author publicationsSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarFutang HuView author publicationsSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarQihui HouView author publicationsSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarGuoqiang ZhuangView author publicationsSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarXuliang ZhuangView author publicationsSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarMaoyong SongView author publicationsSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarIlana Kolodkin-GalView author publicationsSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarAnzhou MaView author publicationsSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarCorresponding authorsCorrespondence to Qihui Hou or Anzhou Ma.Ethics declarationsCompeting interestsThe authors declare no competing interests.Additional informationPublisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.Supplementary informationRights and permissionsOpen Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. 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