Experimental evidence for the impact of phages on mineralization of soil-derived dissolved organic matter under different temperature regimes

Shuang Wang, Senxiang Yu, Xiaoyan Zhao, Xiaolei Zhao, Kyle Mason-Jones, Zhenke Zhu, Marc Redmile-Gordon, Yong Li, Jianping Chen, Yakov Kuzyakov, Tida Ge* (Corresponding author)

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal/periodicalArticleScientificpeer-review

19 Citations (Scopus)
228 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Microbial mineralization of dissolved organic matter (DOM) plays an important role in regulating C and nutrient cycling. Viruses are the most abundant biological agents on Earth, but their effect on the density and activity of soil microorganisms and, consequently, on mineralization of DOM under different temperatures remains poorly understood. To assess the impact of viruses on DOM mineralization, we added soil phage concentrate (active vs. inactive phage control) to four DOM extracts containing inoculated microbial communities and incubated them at 18 °C and 23 °C for 32 days. Infection with active phages generally decreased DOM mineralization at day one and showed accelerated DOM mineralization later (especially from day 5 to 15) compared to that with the inactivated phages. Overall, phage infection increased the microbially driven CO2 release. Notably, while higher temperature increased the total CO2 release, the cumulative CO2 release induced by phage infection (difference between active phages and inactivated control) was not affected. However, higher temperatures advanced the response time of the phages but shortening its active period. Our findings suggest that bacterial predation by phages can significantly affect soil DOM mineralization. Therefore, higher temperatures may accelerate host-phage interactions and thus, the duration of C recycling.

Original languageEnglish
Article number157517
JournalScience of the Total Environment
Volume846
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022

Keywords

  • Carbon cycle
  • Dissolved organic carbon
  • Soil phages
  • Viral shunt
  • Warming

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