Effects of matric vs osmotic potential changes on <i>Variovorax beijingensis</i> transcription.

ABSTRACT: Soil water potential, which regulates microbe-available water, is controlled by osmotic and matric potential, which both become more negative as soils dry. While both parameters can independently alter water potential, the genetic mechanisms underlying microbial responses to both are unknown, with potentially different mechanisms available for microbes to respond to these hydrological parameters. To explore microbial responses to matric vs osmotic potential shifts independently, we evaluated the growth and transcription of Variovorax beijingensis in soils and liquid cultures of varying water potential. We found that this microbe respires in dilute minimal medium (-240 ± 104 kPa), in liquid medium containing sucrose (-1,323 ± 21 kPa), and in matrices that span a similar pressure rang

SUBMITTER: Kim J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12542664 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature