Drought re-routes soil microbial carbon metabolism towards emission of volatile metabolites in an artificial tropical rainforest

Linnea K. Honeker, Giovanni Pugliese, Johannes Ingrisch, Jane Fudyma, Juliana Gil-Loaiza, Elizabeth Carpenter, Esther Singer, Gina Hildebrand, Lingling Shi, David W. Hoyt, Rosalie K. Chu, Jason Toyoda, Jordan E. Krechmer, Megan S. Claflin, Christian Ayala-Ortiz, Viviana Freire-Zapata, Eva Y. Pfannerstill, L. Erik Daber, Kathiravan Meeran, Michaela A. DippoldJürgen Kreuzwieser, Jonathan Williams, S. Nemiah Ladd, Christiane Werner, Malak M. Tfaily, Laura K. Meredith

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

Drought impacts on microbial activity can alter soil carbon fate and lead to the loss of stored carbon to the atmosphere as CO2 and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Here we examined drought impacts on carbon allocation by soil microbes in the Biosphere 2 artificial tropical rainforest by tracking 13C from position-specific 13C-pyruvate into CO2 and VOCs in parallel with multi-omics. During drought, efflux of 13C-enriched acetate, acetone and C4H6O2 (diacetyl) increased. These changes represent increased production and buildup of intermediate metabolites driven by decreased carbon cycling efficiency. Simultaneously,13C-CO2 efflux decreased, driven by a decrease in microbial activity. However, the microbial carbon allocation to energy gain relative to biosynthesis was unchanged, signifying maintained energy demand for biosynthesis of VOCs and other drought-stress-induced pathways. Overall, while carbon loss to the atmosphere via CO2 decreased during drought, carbon loss via efflux of VOCs increased, indicating microbially induced shifts in soil carbon fate.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1480-1494
Number of pages15
JournalNature Microbiology
Volume8
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 2023

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Microbiology
  • Immunology
  • Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology
  • Genetics
  • Microbiology (medical)
  • Cell Biology

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