Microbial Processes in the Soil Environment

A special issue of Microorganisms (ISSN 2076-2607). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Microbiology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 March 2024) | Viewed by 1847

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China
Interests: soil microbial ecology; soil environmental chemistry; soil chemistry
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The study of microbial processes in the soil environment holds paramount importance as it unravels the intricate and indispensable role played by soil microorganisms in our agroecosystems. These microorganisms are the unsung heroes beneath our feet, governing soil fertility, nutrient cycling, and carbon storage, thus influencing agriculture, climate change mitigation, and global food security. Furthermore, understanding their involvement in bioremediation aids in addressing environmental pollution, while their potential in sustainable agriculture and biotechnology offers innovative solutions for a sustainable future. This Special Issue provides a vital platform for disseminating knowledge that is fundamental to our efforts in preserving the health of our soils, ecosystems, and the planet as a whole.

The current Special Issue will provide opportunities to researchers and environmental professionals to discuss challenges and achievements regarding microbial processes. Laboratory and field studies on microbial processes in the soil environment with novel research outcomes are warmly welcomed.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

  • Role of microbes in nutrient cycling in agroecosystem;
  • Modern methods to identify active microbial communities in the environment, i.e., high-throughput DNA/RNA sequencing, PLFA, and DNA-SIP;
  • Identification and quantification of putative functional genes involved in soil functioning via PCR and qPCR;
  • Microbial contributions to soil carbon sequestration;
  • Role of microbial enzymes in catalyzing key soil processes;
  • Omics techniques to decipher the functional potential and metabolic pathways of soil microbial communities;
  • Microbial resilience in changing environments;
  • Microbial contributions to soil fertility;
  • Mitigation of contaminants by new bioremediation techniques;
  • Adaptation and absorption capacity of microbes against heavy metals;
  • Microbial–plant interaction.

You may choose our Joint Special Issue in Toxics.

Dr. Qichun Zhang
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • soil-plant-microbe interaction
  • metabolic pathways
  • omics techniques
  • nutrient cycling in agroecosystems
  • soil fertility
  • microbial enzymes
  • microbial bioremediation
  • heavy metal tolerant strain
  • heavy metal and nutrient interaction

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

17 pages, 37222 KiB  
Article
Identifying Active Rather than Total Methanotrophs Inhabiting Surface Soil Is Essential for the Microbial Prospection of Gas Reservoirs
by Kewei Xu, Cheng Tao, Lei Gu, Xuying Zheng, Yuanyuan Ma, Zhengfei Yan, Yongge Sun, Yuanfeng Cai and Zhongjun Jia
Microorganisms 2024, 12(2), 372; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms12020372 - 11 Feb 2024
Viewed by 1480
Abstract
Methane-oxidizing bacteria (MOB) have long been recognized as an important bioindicator for oil and gas exploration. However, due to their physiological and ecological diversity, the distribution of MOB in different habitats varies widely, making it challenging to authentically reflect the abundance of active [...] Read more.
Methane-oxidizing bacteria (MOB) have long been recognized as an important bioindicator for oil and gas exploration. However, due to their physiological and ecological diversity, the distribution of MOB in different habitats varies widely, making it challenging to authentically reflect the abundance of active MOB in the soil above oil and gas reservoirs using conventional methods. Here, we selected the Puguang gas field of the Sichuan Basin in Southwest China as a model system to study the ecological characteristics of methanotrophs using culture-independent molecular techniques. Initially, by comparing the abundance of the pmoA genes determined by quantitative PCR (qPCR), no significant difference was found between gas well and non-gas well soils, indicating that the abundance of total MOB may not necessarily reflect the distribution of the underlying gas reservoirs. 13C-DNA stable isotope probing (DNA-SIP) in combination with high-throughput sequencing (HTS) furthermore revealed that type II methanotrophic Methylocystis was the absolutely predominant active MOB in the non-gas-field soils, whereas the niche vacated by Methylocystis was gradually filled with type I RPC-2 (rice paddy cluster-2) and Methylosarcina in the surface soils of gas reservoirs after geoscale acclimation to trace- and continuous-methane supply. The sum of the relative abundance of RPC-2 and Methylosarcina was then used as specific biotic index (BI) in the Puguang gas field. A microbial anomaly distribution map based on the BI values showed that the anomalous zones were highly consistent with geological and geophysical data, and known drilling results. Therefore, the active but not total methanotrophs successfully reflected the microseepage intensity of the underlying active hydrocarbon system, and can be used as an essential quantitative index to determine the existence and distribution of reservoirs. Our results suggest that molecular microbial techniques are powerful tools for oil and gas prospecting. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microbial Processes in the Soil Environment)
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