Who is who in litter decomposition? Metaproteomics reveals major microbial players and their biogeochemical functions

By T. Schneider, K. Keiblinger, E. Schmid, Katja Sterflinger-Gleixner, G. Ellersdorfer, B. Roschitzki, Andreas Richter, L. Eberl, S. Zechmeister-Boltenstern, K. Riedel. The ISME Journal, 2012

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Leaf-litter decomposition is a central process in carbon cycling; however, our knowledge about the microbial regulation of this process is still scarce. Metaproteomics allows us to link the abundance and activity of enzymes during nutrient cycling to their phylogenetic origin based on proteins, the ‘active building blocks’ in the system. Moreover, we employed metaproteomics to investigate the influence of environmental factors and nutrients on the decomposer structure and function during beech litter decomposition. Litter was collected at forest sites in Austria with different litter nutrient content. Proteins were analyzed by 1-D-SDS-PAGE followed by liquid-chromatography and tandem mass-spectrometry. Mass spectra were assigned to phylogenetic and functional groups by a newly developed bioinformatics workflow, assignments being validated by complementary approaches. We provide evidence that the litter nutrient content and the stoichiometry of C:N:P affect the decomposer community structure and activity. Fungi were found to be the main producers of extracellular hydrolytic enzymes, with no bacterial hydrolases being detected by our metaproteomics approach. Detailed investigation of microbial succession suggests that it is influenced by litter nutrient content. Microbial activity was stimulated at higher litter nutrient contents via a higher abundance and activity of extracellular enzymes.

Subfields: Ecology, Insect Science, Molecular Biology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/fcb2412028a9f29e5e2bb52e5501ba427112bdc6

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Citations in the corpus

Forest microbiome: diversity, complexity and dynamics. (2016, background): “The expressed decompositionrelated enzymes in litter are largely of fungal origin (Kellner, Zak and Vandenbol 2010; Schneider et al. 2012; Žifčáková et al. 2016).”
Connecting the green and brown worlds . allometric and stoichiometric predictability of above- and below-ground networks (2013, background): “…ratio towards bacteria, and a decline in bacterial investment to enzymes for P-solubilisation with increasing P availability and are consistent with comparable shifts in bacterial:fungal ratio and decreased abundance of fungal phosphatases (Keiblinger et al., 2012; Schneider et al., 2012).”
Linking bacterial and eukaryotic microbiota to litter chemistry: Combining next generation sequencing with 13C CPMAS NMR spectroscopy (2019, background): “Indeed, a growing number of studies, based on molecular methods, have recently described the complex dynamics of bacterial and fungal communities that co-occur and functionally interact during litter decomposition (Schneider et al., 2012; Voříšková and Baldrian, 2013).”
Chronic nitrogen additions fundamentally restructure the soil fungal community in a temperate forest (2016, background): “Fungi are the primary producers of the extracellular enzymes that break down lignin and cellulose (Schneider et al., 2012), two of the most abundant compounds in plant biomass (Dix and Webster, 1995; de Boer et al.”
Interactive effects of C, N and P fertilization on soil microbial community structure and function in an Amazonian rain forest (2015, background): “2012) or metaproteomics (Schneider et al. 2012) may allow establishing the link between microbial diversity and ecosystem processes more specifically.”
Fungal community on decomposing leaf litter undergoes rapid successional changes (2012, background): “Dominance of ascomycetous fungi in the early stages of beech litter decomposition was currently also demonstrated using metaproteomic approach (Schneider et al., 2012).”
Soil extracellular enzyme activities correspond with abiotic factors more than fungal community composition (2013, background): “2008); however, because soil fungi are responsible for a large portion of enzyme production (Schneider et al. 2012), they may also play a role in determining soil EEA.”
Extracellular enzymes in terrestrial, freshwater, and marine environments: perspectives on system variability and common research needs (2013, background): “Some questions, particularly those associated with cellular control of enzyme production, response to specific signals, and identification of genes that are activated under specific conditions, can likely be answered through use of genomic and transcriptomic methods, while metaproteomics offers the ”