Project description:Higher aridity and more extreme rainfall events in drylands are predicted under climate change. Yet it is unclear how changing precipitation regimes may affect nitrogen (N) cycling, especially in areas with extremely high aridity. Here we investigated soil N isotopic values (M-NM-415N) along a 3200 km aridity gradient and show a hump-shaped relationship between soil M-NM-415N and aridity index (AI) with a threshold at AI=0.32. Also, using a micro-array metageomics tool named GeoChip 5.0, we showed that Variations of nitrification and denitrification gene abundance along the gradient which provide further evidence for the existence of this threshold. Data support the hypothesis that the increase of gaseous N losses is higher than the increase of net plant N accumulation with increasing AI below AI=0.32, while the opposite is favoured above this threshold. Our results suggest the importance of N-cycling microbes in extremely dry areas and the different controlling factors of N cycling on the either side of the threshold.
Project description:Metagenomic sequencing provides a window into microbial community structure and metabolic potential; however, linking these data to exogenous metabolites that microorganisms process and produce (the exometabolome) remains challenging. Previously, we observed strong exometabolite niche partitioning among bacterial isolates from biological soil crust (biocrust). Here we examine native biocrust to determine if these patterns are reproduced in the environment. Overall, most soil metabolites display the expected relationship (positive or negative correlation) with four dominant bacteria following a wetting event and across biocrust developmental stages. For metabolites that were previously found to be consumed by an isolate, 70% are negatively correlated with the abundance of the isolate’s closest matching environmental relative in situ, whereas for released metabolites, 67% were positively correlated. Our results demonstrate that metabolite profiling, shotgun sequencing and exometabolomics may be successfully integrated to functionally link microbial community structure with environmental chemistry in biocrust.
Project description:Environmental metagenomics, soil fungal and prokaryotic community in three black locust forests along an aridity gradient of Loess Plateau, China
Project description:Environmental metagenomics, soil fungal and prokaryotic communities in black locust forests and oak forests along an aridity gradient of Loess Plateau, China
Project description:This study evaluates the transcriptome of 3 Arabidopsis thaliana genotypes (Col-0, phf1 and phr1/phl1) growing in soil treated under a gradient of fertilization regimes.