Publication Details
Category Text Publication
Reference Category Journals
DOI 10.1128/Spectrum.00278-21
Licence creative commons licence
Title (Primary) Can we estimate functionality of soil microbial communities from structure-derived predictions? A reality test in agricultural soils
Author Breitkreuz, C.; Heintz-Buschart, A.; Buscot, F.; Wahdan, S.F.M.; Tarkka, M.; Reitz, T. ORCID logo
Source Titel Microbiology Spectrum
Year 2021
Department BOOEK; BOSYS
Volume 9
Issue 1
Page From e00278-21
Language englisch
Topic T5 Future Landscapes
Keywords GCEF, PanFP, Tax4Fun, agriculture, bacterial communities, barley, climate change, enzymes, wheat
Abstract
Computational approaches that link bacterial 16S rRNA gene amplicon data to functional genes based on prokaryotic reference genomes have emerged. This study aims to validate or refute the applicability of the functional gene prediction tools for assessment and comparison of community functionality among experimental treatments, inducing either fast or slow responses in rhizosphere microbial community composition and function. Rhizosphere samples of wheat and barley were collected in two consecutive years at active and mature growth phases from organic and conventional farming plots with ambient or future-climate treatments of the Global Change Experimental Facility. Bacterial community composition was determined by 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, and the activities of five extracellular enzymes involved in carbon (β-glucosidases, cellobiohydrolase, and xylosidase), nitrogen (N-acetylglucosaminidase), and phosphorus (acid phosphatase) cycles were determined. Structural community data were used to predict functional patterns of the rhizosphere communities using Tax4Fun and PanFP. Subsequently, the predictions were compared with the measured activities. Despite the fact that different treatments mainly drove either community composition (plant growth phase) or measured enzyme activities (farming system), the predictions mirrored patterns in the treatments in a qualitative but not quantitative way. Most of the discrepancies between measured and predicted values resulted from plant growth stages (fast community response), followed by farming management and climate (slower community response). Thus, our results suggest the applicability of the prediction tools for comparative investigations of soil community functionality in less-dynamic environmental systems.
Persistent UFZ Identifier https://www.ufz.de/index.php?en=20939&ufzPublicationIdentifier=24941
Breitkreuz, C., Heintz-Buschart, A., Buscot, F., Wahdan, S.F.M., Tarkka, M., Reitz, T. (2021):
Can we estimate functionality of soil microbial communities from structure-derived predictions? A reality test in agricultural soils
Microbiol. Spectr. 9 (1), e00278-21 10.1128/Spectrum.00278-21