TY - JOUR

T1 - Oligopeptides Represent a Preferred Source of Organic N Uptake

T2 - a global phenomenon?

AU - Farrell, Mark

AU - Hill, Paul

AU - DeLuca, Thomas

AU - Roberts, Paula

AU - Kielland, Knut

AU - Dahlgren, Randy

AU - Murphy, Daniel V.

AU - Hobbs, Phil J.

AU - Bardgett, Richard D.

AU - Jones, Davey L.

PY - 2013/1

Y1 - 2013/1

N2 - Over the past 20 years, our understanding of soil nitrogen (N) cycling has changed with evidence that amino acids are major substrates for both soil microorganisms and plants. However, the recent discovery that plants and microorganisms can directly utilize small peptides in soil needs to be evaluated for its ecological significance, because peptides are released earlier in protein decomposition and thus would provide significant competitive advantage to any organism that can use them directly. We tested whether soil microorganisms took up peptides faster than amino acids across a broad range of ecosystems. We show that l-enantiomeric-peptidic-N is taken up significantly faster than the equivalent monomer, and that this is universal across soils from different ecosystems, with distinct microbial communities. Peptides may have an unrecognized, global, importance in the terrestrial N cycle, providing N to soil microorganisms at an earlier stage of decomposition than previously acknowledged.

AB - Over the past 20 years, our understanding of soil nitrogen (N) cycling has changed with evidence that amino acids are major substrates for both soil microorganisms and plants. However, the recent discovery that plants and microorganisms can directly utilize small peptides in soil needs to be evaluated for its ecological significance, because peptides are released earlier in protein decomposition and thus would provide significant competitive advantage to any organism that can use them directly. We tested whether soil microorganisms took up peptides faster than amino acids across a broad range of ecosystems. We show that l-enantiomeric-peptidic-N is taken up significantly faster than the equivalent monomer, and that this is universal across soils from different ecosystems, with distinct microbial communities. Peptides may have an unrecognized, global, importance in the terrestrial N cycle, providing N to soil microorganisms at an earlier stage of decomposition than previously acknowledged.

U2 - 10.1007/s10021-012-9601-8

DO - 10.1007/s10021-012-9601-8

M3 - Article

VL - 16

SP - 133

EP - 145

JO - Ecosystems

JF - Ecosystems

SN - 1435-0629

IS - 1

ER -