Interactions between microbial diversity and substrate chemistry determine the fate of carbon in soil.

Raczka, Nanette; Piñeiro, Juan; Tfaily, Malak; Chu, Rosalie K.; Lipton, Mary S.; Pasa-Tolic, Ljiljana; Morrissey, Ember; Brzostek, Edward

doi:10.1038/s41598-021-97942-9

Interactions between microbial diversity and substrate chemistry determine the fate of carbon in soil.

Journal Article · Wed Sep 29 00:00:00 EDT 2021 · Scientific Reports

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-97942-9· OSTI ID:1843979

Raczka, Nanette ^[1]; Piñeiro, Juan ^[1]; ^[2]; Chu, Rosalie K. ^[2]; ^[2]; Pasa-Tolic, Ljiljana ^[2]; Morrissey, Ember ^[1]; Brzostek, Edward ^[1]

West Virginia University
BATTELLE (PACIFIC NW LAB)

Microbial decomposition drives the transformation of plant-derived substrates into microbial products that form stable soil organic matter (SOM). Recent theories have posited that decomposition depends on an interaction between SOM chemistry with microbial diversity and resulting function. Here, we explicitly test these theories by coupling quantitative stable isotope probing and metabolomics to track the fate of 13C enriched substrates that vary in chemical composition as they are assimilated by microbes and transformed into new metabolic products in soil. We found that mycorrhizal-driven differences in forest nutrient economies (e.g., nutrient cycling, microbial competition) led to arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) soils harboring greater micro8ial diversity than ectomycorrhizal (ECM) soils. When incubated with 13C enriched substrates, substrate type drove shifts in the identity of active decomposers and their metabolic products in the highly diverse AM soils. The decomposition pathways were more static in the less diverse, ECM soil. Importantly, the majority of these shifts were driven by taxa only present in the AM soil suggesting a strong link between microbial identity and specialized function. Collectively, these results highlight an important interaction between ecosystem-level processes and microbial diversity; whereby the identity and function of active decomposers impacts the composition of decomposition products that can form stable SOM.

Research Organization:: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

DOE Contract Number:: AC05-76RL01830

OSTI ID:: 1843979

Report Number(s):: PNNL-SA-159823

Journal Information:: Scientific Reports, Journal Name: Scientific Reports Vol. 11

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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