Development of soil-less substrates capable of degrading organic nitrogen into nitrate as in natural soils.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Meeboon J
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8764028 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:Reforestation is effective in restoring ecosystem functions and enhancing ecosystem services of degraded land. The three most commonly employed reforestation methods of natural reforestation, artificial reforestation with native Masson pine (Pinus massoniana Lamb.), and introduced slash pine (Pinus elliottii Engelm.) plantations were equally successful in biomass yield in southern China. However, it is not known if soil ecosystem functions, such as nitrogen (N) cycling, are also successfully restored. Here, we employed a functional microarray to illustrate soil N cycling. The composition and interactions of N-cycling genes in soils varied significantly with reforestation method. Natural reforestation had more superior organization of N-cycling genes, and higher functional potential (abundance of ammonification, denitrification, assimilatory, and dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium genes) in soils, providing molecular insight into the effects of reforestation.
2019-11-04 | GSE100379 | GEO
Project description:Many trees form ectomycorrhizal symbiosis with fungi. During symbiosis, the tree roots supply sugar to the fungi in exchange for nitrogen, and this process is critical for the nitrogen and carbon cycles in forest ecosystems. However, the extents to which ectomycorrhizal fungi can liberate nitrogen and modify the soil organic matter and the mechanisms by which they do so remain unclear since they have lost many enzymes for litter decomposition that were present in their free-living, saprotrophic ancestors. Using time-series spectroscopy and transcriptomics, we examined the ability of two ectomycorrhizal fungi from two independently evolved ectomycorrhizal lineages to mobilize soil organic nitrogen. Both species oxidized the organic matter and accessed the organic nitrogen. The expression of those events was controlled by the availability of glucose and inorganic nitrogen. Despite those similarities, the decomposition mechanisms, including the type of genes involved as well as the patterns of their expression, differed markedly between the two species. Our results suggest that in agreement with their diverse evolutionary origins, ectomycorrhizal fungi use different decomposition mechanisms to access organic nitrogen entrapped in soil organic matter. The timing and magnitude of the expression of the decomposition activity can be controlled by the below-ground nitrogen quality and the above-ground carbon supply.
2018-11-30 | GSE110485 | GEO
Project description:Several laboratory strains of gram-negative bacteria are known to be able to respire nitrate in the presence of oxygen, although the physiological advantage gained from this process is not entirely clear. The contribution that aerobic nitrate respiration makes to the environmental nitrogen cycle has not been studied. As a first step in addressing this question, a strategy which allows for the isolation of organisms capable of reducing nitrate to nitrite following aerobic growth has been developed. Twenty-nine such strains have been isolated from three soils and a freshwater sediment and shown to comprise members of three genera (Pseudomonas, Aeromonas, and Moraxella). All of these strains expressed a nitrate reductase with an active site located in the periplasmic compartment. Twenty-two of the strains showed significant rates of nitrate respiration in the presence of oxygen when assayed with physiological electron donors. Also isolated was one member of the gram-positive genus Arthrobacter, which was likewise able to respire nitrate in the presence of oxygen but appeared to express a different type of nitrate reductase. In the four environments studied, culturable bacteria capable of aerobic nitrate respiration were isolated in significant numbers (10(4) to 10(7) per g of soil or sediment) and in three cases were as abundant as, or more abundant than, culturable bacteria capable of denitrification. Thus, it seems likely that the corespiration of nitrate and oxygen may indeed make a significant contribution to the flux of nitrate to nitrite in the environment.
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Project description:Many trees form ectomycorrhizal symbiosis with fungi. During symbiosis, the tree roots supply sugar to the fungi in exchange for nitrogen, and this process is critical for the nitrogen and carbon cycles in forest ecosystems. However, the extents to which ectomycorrhizal fungi can liberate nitrogen and modify the soil organic matter and the mechanisms by which they do so remain unclear since they have lost many enzymes for litter decomposition that were present in their free-living, saprotrophic ancestors. Using time-series spectroscopy and transcriptomics, we examined the ability of two ectomycorrhizal fungi from two independently evolved ectomycorrhizal lineages to mobilize soil organic nitrogen. Both species oxidized the organic matter and accessed the organic nitrogen. The expression of those events was controlled by the availability of glucose and inorganic nitrogen. Despite those similarities, the decomposition mechanisms, including the type of genes involved as well as the patterns of their expression, differed markedly between the two species. Our results suggest that in agreement with their diverse evolutionary origins, ectomycorrhizal fungi use different decomposition mechanisms to access organic nitrogen entrapped in soil organic matter. The timing and magnitude of the expression of the decomposition activity can be controlled by the below-ground nitrogen quality and the above-ground carbon supply.
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Project description:The processes regulating nitrification in soils are not entirely understood. Here we provide evidence that nitrification rates in soil may be affected by complexed nitrate molecules and microbial volatile organic compounds (mVOCs) produced during nitrification. Experiments were carried out to elucidate the overall nature of mVOCs and biogenic nitrates produced by nitrifiers, and their effects on nitrification and redox metabolism. Soils were incubated at three levels of biogenic nitrate. Soils containing biogenic nitrate were compared with soils containing inorganic fertilizer nitrate (KNO3) in terms of redox metabolism potential. Repeated NH4-N addition increased nitrification rates (mM NO3 1- produced g-1 soil d-1) from 0.49 to 0.65. Soils with higher nitrification rates stimulated (p < 0.01) abundances of 16S rRNA genes by about eight times, amoA genes of nitrifying bacteria by about 25 times, and amoA genes of nitrifying archaea by about 15 times. Soils with biogenic nitrate and KNO3 were incubated under anoxic conditions to undergo anaerobic respiration. The maximum rates of different redox metabolisms (mM electron acceptors reduced g-1 soil d-1) in soil containing biogenic nitrate followed as: NO3 1- reduction 4.01 ± 0.22, Fe3+ reduction 5.37 ± 0.12, SO4 2- reduction 9.56 ± 0.16, and CH4 production (?g g-1 soil) 0.46 ± 0.05. Biogenic nitrate inhibited denitrificaton 1.4 times more strongly compared to mineral KNO3. Raman spectra indicated that aliphatic hydrocarbons increased in soil during nitrification, and these compounds probably bind to NO3 to form biogenic nitrate. The mVOCs produced by nitrifiers enhanced (p < 0.05) nitrification rates and abundances of nitrifying bacteria. Experiments suggest that biogenic nitrate and mVOCs affect nitrification and redox metabolism in soil.
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