Land-use induced soil carbon stabilization at the expense of rock derived nutrients: insights from pristine Andean soils

Soils contain significantly more carbon than the atmosphere, hence we should understand how best to stabilize it. Unfortunately, the role of human interventions on soil organic carbon (SOC) persistence in the Anthropocene remains vague, lacking adequate sites that allow unbiased direct comparisons of pristine and human influenced soils. Here we present data from a unique study system in the High Andes that guarantees pristineness of the reference sites by physical inaccessibility through vertical cliffs. By comparing the isotopic signatures of SOC, mineral related carbon stabilization, and soil nutrient status across grazed versus pristine soils, we provide counterintuitive evidence that thousands of years of pastoralism increased soil C persistence. Mineral associated organic carbon (MAOC) was significantly higher in pastures. Land use increased poorly crystalline minerals (PCM's), of which aluminum correlated best with MAOC. On the other hand, human's acceleration of weathering led to acidification and higher losses of cations. This highlights a dilemma of lower soil quality but higher persistence of SOC due to millennia of pastoralism. The dynamics of soil genesis in the Anthropocene needs better understanding, but if human-induced weathering proves generally to promote soil carbon persistence it will need to be included in climate-soil feedback projections.

Rhizosphere hydrophobicity: A positive trait in the competition for water

The ability to acquire water from the soil is a major driver in interspecific plant competition and it depends on several root functional traits. One of these traits is the excretion of gel-like compounds (mucilage) that modify physical soil properties. Mucilage secreted by roots becomes hydrophobic upon drying, impedes the rewetting of the soil close to the root, the so called rhizosphere, and reduces water availability to plants. The function of rhizosphere hydrophobicity is not easily understandable when looking at a single plant, but it may constitute a competitive advantage at the ecosystem level. We hypothesize that by making the top soil hydrophobic, deep-rooted plants avoid competititon with shallow-rooted plants. To test this hypothesis we used an individual-based model to simulate water uptake and growth of two virtual plant species, one deep-rooted plant capable of making the soil hydrophobic and a shallow-rooted plant. We ran scenarios with different precipitation regimes ranging from dry to wet (350, 700, and 1400 mm total annual precipitation) and from high to low precipitation frequencies (1, 7, and 14 days). Plant species abundance and biomass were chosen as indicators for competitiveness of plant species. At constant precipitation frequency mucilage hydrophobicity lead to a benefit in biomass and abundance of the tap-rooted population. Under wet conditions this effect diminished and tap-rooted plants were less productive. Without this trait both species coexisted. The effect of root exudation trait remained constant under different precipitation frequencies. This study shows that mucilage secretion is a competitive trait for the acquisition of water. This advantage is achieved by the modification of the soil hydraulic properties and specifically by inducing water repellency in soil regions which are shared with other species.

Glucose transporter mutants of Escherichia coli K-12 with changes in substrate recognition of IICB(Glc) and induction behavior of the ptsG gene

In Escherichia coli K-12, the major glucose transporter with a central role in carbon catabolite repression and in inducer exclusion is the phosphoenolpyruvate-dependent glucose:phosphotransferase system (PTS). Its membrane-bound subunit, IICB(Glc), is encoded by the gene ptsG; its soluble domain, IIA(Glc), is encoded by crr, which is a member of the pts operon. The system is inducible by D-glucose and, to a lesser degree, by L-sorbose. The regulation of ptsG transcription was analyzed by testing the induction of IICB(Glc) transporter activity and of a single-copy Phi(ptsGop-lacZ) fusion. Among mutations found to affect directly ptsG expression were those altering the activity of adenylate cyclase (cyaA), the repressor DgsA (dgsA; also called Mlc), the general PTS proteins enzyme I (ptsI) and histidine carrier protein HPr (ptsH), and the IIA(Glc) and IIB(Glc) domains, as well as several authentic and newly isolated UmgC mutations. The latter, originally thought to map in the repressor gene umgC outside the ptsG locus, were found to represent ptsG alleles. These affected invariably the substrate specificity of the IICB(Glc) domain, thus allowing efficient transport and phosphorylation of substrates normally transported very poorly or not at all by this PTS. Simultaneously, all of these substrates became inducers for ptsG. From the analysis of the mutants, from cis-trans dominance tests, and from the identification of the amino acid residues mutated in the UmgC mutants, a new regulatory mechanism involved in ptsG induction is postulated. According to this model, the phosphorylation state of IIB(Glc) modulates IIC(Glc) which, directly or indirectly, controls the repressor DgsA and hence ptsG expression. By the same mechanism, glucose uptake and phosphorylation also control the expression of the pts operon and probably of all operons controlled by the repressor DgsA.