Unknown bacterial species lead to soil CO2 emission reduction by promoting lactic fermentation in alpine meadow on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

Jieying Wang, Xiaofeng Xu, Yanfang Liu, Wenying Wang, Chengjie Ren, Yaoxin Guo, Jun Wang, Ninglian Wang, Liyuan He, Fazhu Zhao

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Highly variable soil microbial respiration among grasslands has been identified as a major cause of uncertainty in regional carbon (C) budget estimation in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau; microbial metabolism mechanisms might explain this variation, but remain elusive. Therefore, we investigated soil CO2 production in incubated soils and detected the associated functional genes at four sampling sites from two major alpine grasslands on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. The results showed that the cumulative CO2 emissions from alpine meadow soils were 71 %–83 % lower than those from alpine steppe soils. Both the enriched genes abundance encoding fermentation and glycolysis (Embden-Meyerhof pathway (EMP)) and the diminished genes encoding tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA) and phosphate pentose pathway (PPP) explained the CO2 emission reduction in the alpine meadow soils. The EMP: PPP and fermentation: TCA cycle ratios in alpine meadow soils were 1.45- and 1.50-fold higher than those in alpine steppe soils, respectively. Such shifts in metabolic pathways were primarily caused by the increasing dominance of an unknown species of Desulfobacteraceae with high glycolytic potential, carrying a higher abundance of ldh genes during fermentation. These unknown species were promoted by warmer temperatures and higher precipitation in the alpine meadows. Further studies on the unknown species would enhance our understanding and predictability of C cycling in alpine grasslands.

Original languageEnglish
Article number167610
JournalScience of the Total Environment
Volume906
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 1 2024
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Assembled genomes
  • Cellular metabolism
  • Grassland type
  • Metagenomic sequencing
  • Soil microbial respiration

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