Journal
ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY
Volume 22, Issue 8, Pages 3505-3521Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/1462-2920.15121
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Funding
- Direct For Biological Sciences
- Division Of Environmental Biology [1347042, 1147378] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Direct For Biological Sciences
- Division Of Environmental Biology [1147336, 1754835, 0639790] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- DOE JGI-EMSL Collaborative Science Initiative [CSP 1782] Funding Source: Medline
- National Science Foundation [1147378, 1347042, 1351745, 1022876, 1147336, 0639790, 1023270, 1754835, 1026843, 1637459] Funding Source: Medline
- The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation Funding Source: Medline
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Microbes and sunlight convert terrigenous dissolved organic matter (DOM) in surface waters to greenhouse gases. Prior studies show contrasting results about how biological and photochemical processes interact to contribute to the degradation of DOM. In this study, DOM leached from the organic layer of tundra soil was exposed to natural sunlight or kept in the dark, incubated in the dark with the natural microbial community, and analysed for gene expression and DOM chemical composition. Microbial gene expression (metatranscriptomics) in light and dark treatments diverged substantially after 4 h. Gene expression suggested that sunlight exposure of DOM initially stimulated microbial growth by (i) replacing the function of enzymes that degrade higher molecular weight DOM such as enzymes for aromatic carbon degradation, oxygenation, and decarboxylation, and (ii) releasing low molecular weight compounds and inorganic nutrients from DOM. However, growth stimulation following sunlight exposure of DOM came at a cost. Sunlight depleted the pool of aromatic compounds that supported microbial growth in the dark treatment, ultimately causing slower growth in the light treatment over 5 days. These first measurements of microbial metatranscriptomic responses to photo-alteration of DOM provide a mechanistic explanation for how sunlight exposure of terrigenous DOM alters microbial processing and respiration of DOM.
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