Weathered granites and soils harbour microbes with lanthanide-dependent methylotrophic enzymes.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Prior to soil formation, phosphate liberated by rock weathering is often sequestered into highly insoluble lanthanide phosphate minerals. Dissolution of these minerals releases phosphate and lanthanides to the biosphere. Currently, the microorganisms involved in phosphate mineral dissolution and the role of lanthanides in microbial metabolism are poorly understood.

Results

Although there have been many studies of soil microbiology, very little research has investigated microbiomes of weathered rock. Here, we sampled weathered granite and associated soil to identify the zones of lanthanide phosphate mineral solubilisation and genomically define the organisms implicated in lanthanide utilisation. We reconstructed 136 genomes from 11 bacterial phyla and found that ge

SUBMITTER: Voutsinos MY 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10875860 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature