Unearthing the microbial ecology of soil carbon cycling with DNA-SIP

Introductory Paragraph We explored the microbial contributions to decomposition using a sophisticated approach to DNA Stable Isotope Probing (SIP). Our experiment evaluated the dynamics and ecological characteristics of functionally defined microbial groups that metabolize labile and structural C in soils. We added to soil a complex amendment representing plant derived organic matter substituted with either 13 C-xylose or 13 C-cellulose to represent labile and structural C pools derived from abundant components of plant biomass. We found evidence for 13 C-incorporation into DNA from 13 C-xylose and 13 C-cellulose in 49 and 63 operational taxonomic units (OTUs), respectively. The types of microorganisms that assimilated 13 C in the 13 C-xylose treatment changed over time being predominantly Firmicutes at day 1 followed by Bacteroidetes at day 3 and then Actinobacteria at day 7. These 13 C-labeling dynamics suggest labile C traveled through different trophic levels. In contrast, microorganisms generally metabolized cellulose-C after 14 days and did not change to the same extent in phylogenetic composition over time. Microorganisms that metabolized cellulose-C belonged to poorly characterized but cosmopolitan soil lineages including Verrucomicrobia , Chloroflexi and Planctomycetes. We show that microbial life history traits are likely to constrain the diversity of microorganisms that participate in the soil C-cycle.