Development and Analysis of a Stable, Reduced Complexity Model Soil Microbiome.

ABSTRACT: The soil microbiome is central to the cycling of carbon and other nutrients and to the promotion of plant growth. Despite its importance, analysis of the soil microbiome is difficult due to its sheer complexity, with thousands of interacting species. Here, we reduced this complexity by developing model soil microbial consortia that are simpler and more amenable to experimental analysis but still represent important microbial functions of the native soil ecosystem. Samples were collected from an arid grassland soil and microbial communities (consisting mainly of bacterial species) were enriched on agar plates containing chitin as the main carbon source. Chitin was chosen because it is an abundant carbon and nitrogen polymer in soil that often requires the coordinated action of several micro

SUBMITTER: McClure R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7479069 | biostudies-literature | 2020

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature