Divergent microbial communities in groundwater and overlying soils exhibit functional redundancy for plant-polysaccharide degradation.

ABSTRACT: Light driven primary production by plants is the main source of biomass in terrestrial ecosystems. But also in subsurface habitats like aquifers, life is fueled largely by this plant-derived biomass. Here, we investigate the degradation of plant-derived polysaccharides in a groundwater microbiome to identify the microbial key players involved, and compare them to those from soil of the groundwater recharge area. We quantified the activities of enzymes degrading the abundant plant polymers starch, cellulose and hemicellulose in oligotrophic groundwater samples, despite the low cell numbers present. Normalized to 16S rRNA gene copy numbers, these activities were only one order of magnitude lower than in soil. Stimulation of the groundwater microbiome with either starch or cellulose and hemic

SUBMITTER: Taubert M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6415789 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature