Wetlands harbor lactic acid-driven chain elongators.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

Wetlands are globally significant carbon cycling hotspots that both sequester large amounts of CO₂ as soil carbon as well as emit a third of all CH₄ globally. Their outsized role in the global carbon cycle makes it critical to understand microbial processes contributing to carbon breakdown and storage in these ecosystems. Here, we confirm the presence of chain-elongating organisms in freshwater wetland soils. These organisms take small carbon compounds formed during the breakdown of biomass and turn them into larger compounds (six to eight carbon organic acids) that may potentially contribute to the formation of soil organic matter and long-term carbon storage. Moreover, we find that these chain-elongating organisms may be widely distributed in wetl

SUBMITTER: Candry P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10783096 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature