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Title: Linking soil biology and chemistry in biological soil crust using isolate exometabolomics

Journal Article · · Nature Communications
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2];  [3];  [4];  [4]
  1. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division
  2. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Climate and Ecosystems Sciences Division
  3. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Biological Systems and Engineering Division
  4. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division; USDOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI), Walnut Creek, CA (United States)

Metagenomic sequencing provides a window into microbial community structure and metabolic potential; however, linking these data to exogenous metabolites that microorganisms process and produce (the exometabolome) remains challenging. Previously, we observed strong exometabolite niche partitioning among bacterial isolates from biological soil crust (biocrust). For this study, we examine native biocrust to determine if these patterns are reproduced in the environment. Overall, most soil metabolites display the expected relationship (positive or negative correlation) with four dominant bacteria following a wetting event and across biocrust developmental stages. For metabolites that were previously found to be consumed by an isolate, 70% are negatively correlated with the abundance of the isolate's closest matching environmental relative in situ, whereas for released metabolites, 67% were positively correlated. Our results demonstrate that metabolite profiling, shotgun sequencing and exometabolomics may be successfully integrated to functionally link microbial community structure with environmental chemistry in biocrust.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231; S10 OD018174
OSTI ID:
1434034
Journal Information:
Nature Communications, Vol. 9, Issue 1; Related Information: © 2017 The Author(s).; ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 98 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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