Plant litter and soil type drive abundance, activity and community structure of alkB harbouring microbes in different soil compartments.

ABSTRACT: Alkanes are major constituents of plant-derived waxy materials. In this study, we investigated the abundance, community structure and activity of bacteria harbouring the alkane monooxygenase gene alkB, which catalyses a major step in the pathway of aerobic alkane degradation in the litter layer, the litter-soil interface and in bulk soil at three time points during the degradation of maize and pea plant litter (2, 8 and 30 weeks) to improve our understanding about drivers for microbial performance in different soil compartments. Soil cores of different soil textures (sandy and silty) were taken from an agricultural field and incubated at constant laboratory conditions. The abundance of alkB genes and transcripts (by qPCR) as well as the community structure (by terminal restriction fragment

SUBMITTER: Schulz S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3498921 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature