Hydrogen stable isotope probing of lipids demonstrates slow rates of microbial growth in soil.

ABSTRACT: The rate at which microorganisms grow and reproduce is fundamental to our understanding of microbial physiology and ecology. While soil microbiologists routinely quantify soil microbial biomass levels and the growth rates of individual taxa in culture, there is a limited understanding of how quickly microbes actually grow in soil. For this work, we posed the simple question: what are the growth rates of soil microorganisms? In this study, we measure these rates in three distinct soil environments using hydrogen-stable isotope probing of lipids with ²H-enriched water. This technique provides a taxa-agnostic quantification of in situ microbial growth from the degree of ²H enrichment of intact polar lipid compounds ascribed to bacteria and fungi. We find that growth rate

SUBMITTER: Caro TA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10120080 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature