Title: Microbial functional genes commonly respond to elevated carbon dioxide

Abstract

Atmospheric CO2 concentration is increasing, largely due to anthropogenic activities. Previous studies of individual free-air CO2 enrichment (FACE) experimental sites have shown significant impacts of elevated CO2 (eCO2) on soil microbial communities; however, no common microbial response patterns have yet emerged, challenging our ability to predict ecosystem functioning and sustainability in the future eCO2 environment. Here we analyzed 66 soil microbial communities from five FACE sites, and showed common microbial response patterns to eCO2, especially for key functional genes involved in carbon and nitrogen fixation (e.g., pcc/acc for carbon fixation, nifH for nitrogen fixation), carbon decomposition (e.g., amyA and pulA for labile carbon decomposition, mnp and lcc for recalcitrant carbon decomposition), and greenhouse gas emissions (e.g., mcrA for methane production, norB for nitrous oxide production) across five FACE sites. Also, the relative abundance of those key genes was generally increased and directionally associated with increased biomass, soil carbon decomposition, and soil moisture. In addition, a further literature survey of more disparate FACE experimental sites indicated increased biomass, soil carbon decay, nitrogen fixation, methane and nitrous oxide emissions, plant and soil carbon and nitrogen under eCO2. A conceptual framework was developed to link commonly responsive functional genes with ecosystem processes, suchmore » as pcc/acc vs. soil carbon storage, amyA/pulA/mnp/lcc vs. soil carbon decomposition, and nifH vs. nitrogen availability, suggesting that such common responses of microbial functional genes may have the potential to predict ecosystem functioning and sustainability in the future eCO2 environment.« less

Authors:

He, Zhili  ^[1];

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• Search DOE PAGES for ORCID "0000-0001-8225-7333"

Deng, Ye ^[2]; Xu, Meiying ^[3]; Li, Juan ^[4]; Liang, Junyi ^[5]; Xiong, Jinbo ^[6]; Yu, Hao ^[7]; Wu, Bo  ^[8];

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Wu, Liyou ^[5]; Xue, Kai ^[5]; Shi, Shengjing ^[9]; Carrillo, Yolima ^[10]; Van Nostrand, Joy D. ^[5]; Hobbie, Sarah E. ^[11]; Reich, Peter B.  ^[12];

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• Search DOE PAGES for ORCID "0000-0003-4424-662X"

Schadt, Christopher W.  ^[13];

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• Search DOE PAGES for ORCID "0000-0001-8759-2448"

Kent, Angela D. ^[14]; Pendall, Elise ^[10]; Wallenstein, Matthew ^[15]; Luo, Yiqi ^[16] more »; Yan, Qingyun ^[17]; Zhou, Jizhong ^[18] « less

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+ Show Author Affiliations

1. Sun Yat-Sen Univ., Guangzhou (China). Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Lab. (Zhuhai); Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States); Hunan Agricultural Univ., Changsha (China)
2. Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States); Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China). Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences
3. Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States); Guangdong Inst. of Microbiology, Guangzhou (China)
4. Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States); Hunan Agricultural Univ., Changsha (China)
5. Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States)
6. Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States); Ningbo Univ. (China)
7. Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States); Harbin Inst. of Technology (China); Liaoning Technical Univ., Fuxin (China)
8. Sun Yat-Sen Univ., Guangzhou (China). Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Lab. (Zhuhai); Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States);
9. Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States); Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
10. Univ. of Western Sydney, NSW (Australia); Univ. of Wyoming, Laramie, WY (United States)
11. Univ. of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN (United States)
12. Univ. of Western Sydney, NSW (Australia); Univ. of St. Paul, Minneapolis, MN (United States)
13. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
14. Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL (United States)
15. Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO (United States). Natural Resource Ecology Lab.
16. Hunan Agricultural Univ., Changsha (China)
17. Sun Yat-Sen Univ., Guangzhou (China). Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Lab. (Zhuhai); Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States)
18. Univ. of Oklahoma, Norman, OK (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China). State Key Joint Lab. of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control

Publication Date:

Sat Aug 29 00:00:00 EDT 2020

Research Org.:

Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:

USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); US Dept. of Agriculture (USDA); National Science Foundation (NSF)

OSTI Identifier:

1764543

Alternate Identifier(s):

OSTI ID: 1820786

Grant/Contract Number:  

AC02-05CH11231; FG02-96ER62291; FC02-06ER64158; AC05-00OR22725

Resource Type:

Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:

Environment International

Additional Journal Information:

Journal Volume: 144; Journal ID: ISSN 0160-4120

Publisher:

Elsevier

Country of Publication:

United States

Language:

English

Subject:

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES; Soil microbial community; functional gene; common/specific response; elevated carbon dioxide; global change