Selection, Succession, and Stabilization of Soil Microbial Consortia.

ABSTRACT: Soil microorganisms play fundamental roles in cycling of soil carbon, nitrogen, and other nutrients, yet we have a poor understanding of how soil microbiomes are shaped by their nutritional and physical environment. In this study, we investigated the successional dynamics of a soil microbiome during 21 weeks of enrichment on chitin and its monomer, N-acetylglucosamine. We examined succession of the soil communities in a physically heterogeneous soil matrix as well as a homogeneous liquid medium. The guiding hypothesis was that the initial species richness would influence the tendency for the selected consortia to stabilize and maintain a relatively constant community structure over time. We also hypothesized that long-term, substrate-driven growth would result in consortia with redu

SUBMITTER: Zegeye EK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6517688 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul-Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature