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Title: Forest floor community metatranscriptomes identify fungal and bacterial responses to N deposition in two maple forests

Journal Article · · Frontiers in Microbiology
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [1]
  1. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
  2. Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)

Anthropogenic N deposition alters patterns of C and N cycling in temperate forests, where forest floor litter decomposition is a key process mediated by a diverse community of bacteria and fungi. To track forest floor decomposer activity we generated metatranscriptomes that simultaneously surveyed the actively expressed bacterial and eukaryote genes in the forest floor, to compare the impact of N deposition on the decomposers in two natural maple forests in Michigan, USA, where replicate field plots had been amended with N for 16 years. Site and N amendment responses were compared using about 74,000 carbohydrate active enzyme transcript sequences (CAZymes) in each metatranscriptome. Parallel ribosomal RNA (rRNA) surveys of bacterial and fungal biomass and taxonomic composition showed no significant differences in either biomass or OTU richness between the two sites or in response to N. Site and N amendment were not significant variables defining bacterial taxonomic composition, but they were significant for fungal community composition, explaining 17 and 14% of the variability, respectively. The relative abundance of expressed bacterial and fungal CAZymes changed significantly with N amendment in one of the forests, and N-response trends were also identified in the second forest. Although the two ambient forests were similar in community biomass, taxonomic structure and active CAZyme profile, the shifts in active CAZyme profiles in response to N-amendment differed between the sites. One site responded with an over-expression of bacterial CAZymes, and the other site responded with an over-expression of both fungal and different bacterial CAZymes. Both sites showed reduced representation of fungal lignocellulose degrading enzymes in N-amendment plots. The metatranscriptome approach provided a holistic assessment of eukaryote and bacterial gene expression and is applicable to other systems where eukaryotes and bacteria interact.

Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-06NA25396
OSTI ID:
1200903
Journal Information:
Frontiers in Microbiology, Vol. 6; ISSN 1664-302X
Publisher:
Frontiers Research FoundationCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 63 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (25)

Anthropogenic N deposition increases soil C storage by reducing the relative abundance of lignolytic fungi journal February 2018
Anthropogenic N deposition, fungal gene expression, and an increasing soil carbon sink in the Northern Hemisphere journal July 2019
Metatranscriptomics: an approach for retrieving novel eukaryotic genes from polluted and related environments journal January 2020
Shift in fungal communities and associated enzyme activities along an age gradient of managed Pinus sylvestris stands journal January 2017
Seasonal and ecohydrological regulation of active microbial populations involved in DOC, CO2, and CH4 fluxes in temperate rainforest soil journal December 2018
Mycobiome diversity: high-throughput sequencing and identification of fungi journal November 2018
Nitrogen additions stimulate litter humification in a subtropical forest, southwestern China journal December 2018
The known and the unknown in soil microbial ecology journal January 2019
Forest microbiome: diversity, complexity and dynamics journal November 2016
Differential gene expression associated with fungal trophic shifts along the senescence gradient of the moss Dicranum scoparium journal April 2019
A robust, cost‐effective method for DNA, RNA and protein co‐extraction from soil, other complex microbiomes and pure cultures journal February 2019
Making sense of environmental sequencing data: Ecologically important functional traits of the protistan groups Cercozoa and Endomyxa (Rhizaria) journal November 2019
Long‐term nitrogen addition modifies microbial composition and functions for slow carbon cycling and increased sequestration in tropical forest soil journal August 2019
Gene expression of indoor fungal communities under damp building conditions: Implications for human health journal April 2018
RNA-based analyses reveal fungal communities structured by a senescence gradient in the moss Dicranum scoparium and the presence of putative multi-trophic fungi journal March 2018
Short-Term Transcriptional Response of Microbial Communities to Nitrogen Fertilization in a Pine Forest Soil journal May 2018
Anthropogenic N Deposition Alters the Composition of Expressed Class II Fungal Peroxidases journal February 2018
Feed in summer, rest in winter: microbial carbon utilization in forest topsoil journal September 2017
Anthropogenic N Deposition Slows Decay by Favoring Bacterial Metabolism: Insights from Metagenomic Analyses journal March 2016
Fungal Biodiversity and Their Role in Soil Health journal April 2018
Belowground Microbiota and the Health of Tree Crops journal June 2018
How to normalize metatranscriptomic count data for differential expression analysis journal January 2017
Plant, fungal, bacterial, and nitrogen interactions in the litter layer of a native Patagonian forest journal January 2018
Investigation of the Activity of the Microorganisms in a Reblochon-Style Cheese by Metatranscriptomic Analysis journal April 2016
Soil Metatranscriptomes Under Long-Term Experimental Warming and Drying: Fungi Allocate Resources to Cell Metabolic Maintenance Rather Than Decay journal August 2019