Nitrogen Cycling Potential of a Grassland Litter Microbial Community.

ABSTRACT: Because microorganisms have different abilities to utilize nitrogen (N) through various assimilatory and dissimilatory pathways, microbial composition and diversity likely influence N cycling in an ecosystem. Terrestrial plant litter decomposition is often limited by N availability; however, little is known about the microorganisms involved in litter N cycling. In this study, we used metagenomics to characterize the potential N utilization of microbial communities in grassland plant litter. The frequencies of sequences associated with eight N cycling pathways differed by several orders of magnitude. Within a pathway, the distributions of these sequences among bacterial orders differed greatly. Many orders within the Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria appeared to be N cycling generalists, ca

SUBMITTER: Nelson MB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4579426 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature