Distribution and Environmental Drivers of Fungal Denitrifiers in Global Soils.

ABSTRACT: The microbial process of denitrification is the primary source of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N₂O) from terrestrial ecosystems. Fungal denitrifiers, unlike many bacteria, lack the N₂O reductase, and thereby are sources of N₂O. Still, their diversity, global distribution, and environmental determinants, as well as their relative importance, compared to bacterial and archaeal denitrifiers, remain unresolved. Employing a phylogenetically informed approach to analyze 1,980 global soil and rhizosphere metagenomes for the denitrification marker gene nirK, which codes for the copper dependent nitrite reductase in denitrification, we show that fungal denitrifiers are sparse, yet cosmopolitan and that they are dominated by saprotrophs and pathogens. Few

SUBMITTER: Bosch Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10269876 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature