Abstract
Here, we present evidence that ca. 20 years of experimental N deposition altered the composition of lignin-decaying class II peroxidases expressed by forest floor fungi, a response which has occurred concurrently with reductions in plant litter decomposition and a rapid accumulation of soil organic matter. This finding suggests that anthropogenic N deposition has induced changes in the biological mediation of lignin decay, the rate limiting step in plant litter decomposition. Thus, an altered composition of transcripts for a critical gene that is associated with terrestrial C cycling may explain the increased soil C storage under long-term increases in anthropogenic N deposition.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | e02816-17 |
| Journal | Applied and Environmental Microbiology |
| Volume | 84 |
| Issue number | 9 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - May 1 2018 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Funding
This work was supported by funding from the United States Department of Energy Office of Science Biological and Environmental Research Program awarded to Donald R. Zak (DE-SC0010541). The maintenance of our long-term N deposition project is supported by the National Science Foundation Long-term Research in Environmental Biology program (DEB 1252841). J. Jeffrey Morris obtained NSF award no. OCE-1540158, and this award presently supports Elizabeth M. Entwistle. We thank James Anderson, Allison Walker, and Daniel Lindner and the Center for Forest Mycology Research (Northern Research Station, Forest Service) for providing access to unpublished genome data produced by the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, a DOE Office of Science User Facility, supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy under contract no. DE-AC02-05CH11231. We also thank Christina McHenry, Katherine Borysko, and the University of Michigan sequencing core for assistance with the sequencing for this project. We thank the former intern Andrew Warner for his assistance in the lab. Finally, we thank Rima Upchurch for her input and assistance in coordinating this project. E. M. Entwistle conceived of the hypotheses and experiments in the manuscript, developed the modified primers, coordinated sequencing with the UM sequencing core, analyzed data, and wrote the manuscript. D. R. Zak is the principal investigator on this project and a founder of the Michigan N Deposition Gradient Project. K. J. Romanowicz and Z. B. Freedman developed the RNA extraction and cDNA synthesis protocols used in this project and collected the samples. K. J. Romanowicz and W. A. Argiroff optimized and performed all RT-PCRs and prepared RT-PCR products for sequencing. Z. B. Freedman advised on this project and coordinated this effort with other related projects. J. J. Morris adapted the KEGGur pipeline for fungal peroxidase sequence analysis and performed the data analysis in KEGGur
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Center for Forest Mycology Research | |
| U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute | |
| United States Department of Energy Office of Science Biological and Environmental Research Program | DE-SC0010541 |
| National Science Foundation | OCE-1540158, DEB 1252841, 1251529 |
| U.S. Department of Energy | DE-AC02-05CH11231 |
| Office of Science | |
| University of Michigan | |
| National Stroke Foundation | 1540158 |
Keywords
- Atmospheric N deposition
- Fungal peroxidase
- Fungi
- Peroxidase
- Peroxidases
- Soil carbon