Deconstructing the Soil Microbiome into Reduced-Complexity Functional Modules.

ABSTRACT: The soil microbiome represents one of the most complex microbial communities on the planet, encompassing thousands of taxa and metabolic pathways, rendering holistic analyses computationally intensive and difficult. Here, we developed an alternative approach in which the complex soil microbiome was broken into components ("functional modules"), based on metabolic capacities, for individual characterization. We hypothesized that reproducible, low-complexity communities that represent functional modules could be obtained through targeted enrichments and that, in combination, they would encompass a large extent of the soil microbiome diversity. Enrichments were performed on a starting soil inoculum with defined media based on specific carbon substrates, antibiotics, alternative electron accep

SUBMITTER: Naylor D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7343995 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature