Microbial metabolism in typical flooded paddy soils

Abstract:

Abstract:［Objective］The object of this study is to reveal the composition of active microorganism and their metabolic activities in flooded paddy soils with long-term fertilization (Mineral nitrogen，phosphorus，and potassium，NPK) and without fertilizer (Control check，CK) by environmental transcriptomics．［Methods］ Flooded soil microcosms were incubated in the laboratory for two weeks，then total RNA were extracted from the soil for transcriptome sequencing．Resulting fastq files were uploaded to the Metagenomics Analysis Server (MG-ＲAST) for taxonomic analysis，gene annotation and function classification．［Results］Transcripts from diverse active microorganism，including bacteria (＞95%)，archaea，eukaryotes and viruses，were detected in both flooded paddy soils of CK and NPK treatments．Most of the transcripts (active genes) of bacteria and archaea were derived from Proteobacteria (more than 50% of total bacterial transcripts) and Thaumarchaaeota (about 70% of total archaeal transcripts) respectively in both treatments．Transcriptional activity of Acidobacteria in NPK treatment paddy soil was significantly higher than that in CK treatment paddy soil．As for other phyla of bacteria and archaea，there were no significant differences of transcriptional activity of them between CK and NPK treatment paddy soils．The highest expressed gene in both CK and NPK treatment paddy soils is ABC transporter encoding gene which related to the transmembrane transport of substances．Based on gene function category of COG (Clusters of Orthologous Genes)，Subsystem and KEGG (Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes) database，we found that the main metabolic activities of microorganisms in both CK and NPK treatment paddy soils were related to energy production and conversion，carbohydrate metabolism，protein metabolism and amino acid metabolism，and the dominant KEGG pathways were oxidative phosphorylation and aminoacyl-tＲNA biosynthesis． ［Conclusion］Composition of active microorganism in CK and NPK treatment paddy soils was generally similar，except Acidobacteria whose transcriptional activity was significantly different between these two treatment paddy soils．It was also very similar between CK and NPK treatment paddy soils considering the metabolic activities of microorganisms in them，for dominant metabolic processes in these two soils were both related to energy obtaining and protein metabolism．So，dominant metabolic activities of microorganism in flooded paddy soils used in this study were not altered significantly under long－term inorganic fertilization.