| Degelmann, DM; Kolb, S; Dumont, MG; Murrell, JC; Drake, HL: Enterobacteriaceae Facilitate the Anaerobic Degradation of Glucose by a Forest Soil, FEMS Microbiology Ecology, 68, 312-319 (2009) | |
| Abstract: Anoxic micro zones that occur in soil aggregates of oxic soils may be temporarily extended after rainfall and thus facilitate the anaerobic degradation of organic compounds in soils. The microbial degradation of glucose by anoxic slurries of a forest soil yielded acetate, CO2, H2, succinate, and ethanol, products indicative of mixed acid fermentation. Prokaryotes involved in this process were identified by time-resolved 16S rRNA-targeted stable isotope probing (16S rRNA SIP) with [13C-U]-glucose. All labeled phylotypes from the 13C-enriched 16S rRNA were most closely related to Rahnella and Ewingella, enterobacterial genera known to catalyze mixed acid fermentation. These results indicate that facultative aerobes, in particular Enterobacteriaceae, (i) can out-compete obligate anaerobes when conditions become anoxic in forest soils and (ii) may be involved in the initial decomposition of monosaccharides in anoxic micro zones of aerated forest soils. |
