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Title: Proteogenomic analyses indicate bacterial methylotrophy and archaeal heterotrophy are prevalent below the grass root zone

Journal Article · · PeerJ
DOI:https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2687· OSTI ID:1354646
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [4];  [1];  [5];  [3];  [2];  [6]
  1. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Earth and Planetary Sciences
  2. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Chemical Sciences Division
  3. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  4. Univ. of California, Santa Cruz, CA (United States). Dept. of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
  5. USDOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI), Walnut Creek, CA (United States)
  6. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Chemical Sciences Division; Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Annually, half of all plant-derived carbon is added to soil where it is microbially respired to CO2. However, understanding of the microbiology of this process is limited because most culture-independent methods cannot link metabolic processes to the organisms present, and this link to causative agents is necessary to predict the results of perturbations on the system. We collected soil samples at two sub-root depths (10–20 cm and 30–40 cm) before and after a rainfall-driven nutrient perturbation event in a Northern California grassland that experiences a Mediterranean climate. From ten samples, we reconstructed 198 metagenome-assembled genomes that represent all major phylotypes. We also quantified 6,835 proteins and 175 metabolites and showed that after the rain event the concentrations of many sugars and amino acids approach zero at the base of the soil profile. Unexpectedly, the genomes of novel members of the Gemmatimonadetes and Candidate Phylum Rokubacteria phyla encode pathways for methylotrophy. We infer that these abundant organisms contribute substantially to carbon turnover in the soil, given that methylotrophy proteins were among the most abundant proteins in the proteome. Previously undescribed Bathyarchaeota and Thermoplasmatales archaea are abundant in deeper soil horizons and are inferred to contribute appreciably to aromatic amino acid degradation. Many of the other bacteria appear to breakdown other components of plant biomass, as evidenced by the prevalence of various sugar and amino acid transporters and corresponding hydrolyzing machinery in the proteome. Overall, our work provides organism-resolved insight into the spatial distribution of bacteria and archaea whose activities combine to degrade plant-derived organics, limiting the transport of methanol, amino acids and sugars into underlying weathered rock. The new insights into the soil carbon cycle during an intense period of carbon turnover, including biogeochemical roles to previously little known soil microbes, were made possible via the combination of metagenomics, proteomics, and metabolomics.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725; AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1354646
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1378973
Journal Information:
PeerJ, Vol. 4; ISSN 2167-8359
Publisher:
PeerJ Inc.Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 70 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (20)

Soil metaproteomics as a tool for monitoring functional microbial communities: promises and challenges journal December 2019
Community proteogenomics reveals the systemic impact of phosphorus availability on microbial functions in tropical soil journal January 2018
Recovery of genomes from metagenomes via a dereplication, aggregation and scoring strategy journal May 2018
Novel soil bacteria possess diverse genes for secondary metabolite biosynthesis journal June 2018
Lifestyle-determining extrachromosomal replicon pAMV1 and its contribution to the carbon metabolism of the methylotrophic bacterium Paracoccus aminovorans JCM 7685: Lifestyle-determining replicon of P. aminovorans journal October 2017
Pheno- and Genotyping of Hopanoid Production in Acidobacteria journal June 2017
Rokubacteria: Genomic Giants among the Uncultured Bacterial Phyla journal November 2017
New Biological Insights Into How Deforestation in Amazonia Affects Soil Microbial Communities Using Metagenomics and Metagenome-Assembled Genomes journal July 2018
Genome-Resolved Proteomic Stable Isotope Probing of Soil Microbial Communities Using 13CO2 and 13C-Methanol journal December 2019
Differences in Bacterial Diversity, Composition and Function due to Long-Term Agriculture in Soils in the Eastern Free State of South Africa journal April 2019
A simple cleanup method for the removal of humic substances from soil protein extracts using aluminum coagulation journal June 2018
Mediterranean grassland soil C–N compound turnover is dependent on rainfall and depth, and is mediated by genomically divergent microorganisms journal May 2019
An archaeal origin of the Wood–Ljungdahl H4MPT branch and the emergence of bacterial methylotrophy journal August 2019
Microbial diversity analysis and screening for novel xylanase enzymes from the sediment of the Lobios Hot Spring in Spain journal August 2019
Impact of plants on the diversity and activity of methylotrophs in soil journal March 2020
Lanthanide-Dependent Methylotrophs of the Family Beijerinckiaceae : Physiological and Genomic Insights journal October 2019
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Group I introns are widespread in archaea journal May 2018
The Source and Evolutionary History of a Microbial Contaminant Identified Through Soil Metagenomic Analysis journal February 2017
Identification of Molecular Markers That Are Specific to the Class Thermoleophilia journal May 2019

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