Project description:Desert microbial communities live in a pulsed ecosystem shaped by isolated and rare precipitation events. The Namib desert is one of the oldest continuously hyperarid ecosystems on Earth. In this study, surface microbial communities of open soils (without sheltering features like rocks, vegetation or biological soil crusts) are analysed. We designed an artificial rainfall experiment where a 7x7 (3.5 x 3.5 m) plot remained dry while an adjacent one received a 30 mm simulated rain. Samples were taken randomly in parallel from both plots at 10 min, 1 h, 3 h, 7 h, 24 h and 7 days after the watering moment. Duplicate libraries were generated from total (rRNA depleted) RNA and sequenced 2x150 bp in an Illumina Hiseq 4000 instrument.
Project description:Microbes play key roles in diverse biogeochemical processes including nutrient cycling. However, responses of soil microbial community at the functional gene level to long-term fertilization, especially integrated fertilization (chemical combined with organic fertilization) remain unclear. Here we used microarray-based GeoChip techniques to explore the shifts of soil microbial functional community in a nutrient-poor paddy soil with long-term (21 years).The long-term fertilization experiment site (set up in 1990) was located in Taoyuan agro-ecosystem research station (28°55’N, 111°27’E), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hunan Province, China, with a double-cropped rice system. fertilization at various regimes.
2020-09-19 | GSE104014 | GEO
Project description:16S rRNA amplicon analysis of microbes from desert soil in Gansu province
Project description:Gas fermentation offers both fossil carbon-free sustainable production of fuels and chemicals and recycling of gaseous and solid waste using gas-fermenting microbes. Bioprocess development, systems-level analysis of biocatalyst metabolism, and engineering of cell factories are advancing the widespread deployment of the commercialised technology. Acetogens are particularly attractive biocatalysts but effects of the key physiological parameter – specific growth rate (μ) – on acetogen metabolism and the gas fermentation bioprocess have not been established yet. Here, we investigate the μ-dependent bioprocess performance of the model-acetogen Clostridium autoethanogenum in CO and syngas (CO+CO2+H2) grown chemostat cultures and assess systems-level metabolic responses using gas analysis, metabolomics, transcriptomics, and metabolic modelling. We were able to obtain steady-states up to μ ~2.8 day-1 (~0.12 h-1) and show that faster growth supports both higher yields and productivities for reduced by-products ethanol and 2,3-butanediol. Transcriptomics data revealed differential expression of 1,337 genes with increasing μ and suggest that C. autoethanogenum uses transcriptional regulation to a large extent for facilitating faster growth. Metabolic modelling showed significantly increased fluxes for faster growing cells that were, however, not accompanied by gene expression changes in key catabolic pathways for CO and H2 metabolism. Cells thus seem to maintain sufficient “baseline” gene expression to rapidly respond to CO and H2 availability without delays to kick-start metabolism. Our work advances understanding of transcriptional regulation in acetogens and shows that faster growth of the biocatalyst improves the gas fermentation bioprocess.
Project description:Understanding the mechanisms underlying the establishment of invasive plants is critical in community ecology. According to a widely accepted theory, plant-soil-microbe interactions mediate the effects of invasive plants on native species, thereby affecting invasion success. However, the roles and molecular mechanisms associated with such microbes remain elusive. Using high throughput sequencing and a functional gene microarray, we found that soil taxonomic and functional microbial communities in plots dominated by Ageratina adenophora developed to benefit the invasive plant. There were increases in nitrogen-fixing bacteria and labile carbon degraders, as well as soil-borne pathogens in bulk soil, which potentially suppressed native plant growth. Meanwhile, there was an increase of microbial antagonism in the A. adenophora rhizosphere, which could inhibit pathogenicity against plant invader. These results suggest that the invasive plant A. adenophora establishes a self-reinforcing soil environment by changing the soil microbial community. It could be defined as a ‘bodyguard/mercenary army’ strategy for invasive plants, which has important insights for the mitigation of plant invasion.