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Archaeol: An Indicator of Methanogenesis in Water-Saturated Soils

Oxic soils typically are a sink for methane due to the presence of high-affinity methanotrophic Bacteria capable of oxidising methane. However, soils experiencing water saturation are able to host significant methanogenic archaeal communities, potentially affecting the capacity of the soil to act as...

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Autores principales: Lim, Katie L. H., Pancost, Richard D., Hornibrook, Edward R. C., Maxfield, Peter J., Evershed, Richard P.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Hindawi Publishing Corporation 2012
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3512251/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23226972
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2012/896727
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author Lim, Katie L. H.
Pancost, Richard D.
Hornibrook, Edward R. C.
Maxfield, Peter J.
Evershed, Richard P.
author_facet Lim, Katie L. H.
Pancost, Richard D.
Hornibrook, Edward R. C.
Maxfield, Peter J.
Evershed, Richard P.
author_sort Lim, Katie L. H.
collection PubMed
description Oxic soils typically are a sink for methane due to the presence of high-affinity methanotrophic Bacteria capable of oxidising methane. However, soils experiencing water saturation are able to host significant methanogenic archaeal communities, potentially affecting the capacity of the soil to act as a methane sink. In order to provide insight into methanogenic populations in such soils, the distribution of archaeol in free and conjugated forms was investigated as an indicator of fossilised and living methanogenic biomass using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry with selected ion monitoring. Of three soils studied, only one organic matter-rich site contained archaeol in quantifiable amounts. Assessment of the subsurface profile revealed a dominance of archaeol bound by glycosidic headgroups over phospholipids implying derivation from fossilised biomass. Moisture content, through control of organic carbon and anoxia, seemed to govern trends in methanogen biomass. Archaeol and crenarchaeol profiles differed, implying the former was not of thaumarcheotal origin. Based on these results, we propose the use of intact archaeol as a useful biomarker for methanogen biomass in soil and to track changes in moisture status and aeration related to climate change.
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spelling pubmed-35122512012-12-07 Archaeol: An Indicator of Methanogenesis in Water-Saturated Soils Lim, Katie L. H. Pancost, Richard D. Hornibrook, Edward R. C. Maxfield, Peter J. Evershed, Richard P. Archaea Research Article Oxic soils typically are a sink for methane due to the presence of high-affinity methanotrophic Bacteria capable of oxidising methane. However, soils experiencing water saturation are able to host significant methanogenic archaeal communities, potentially affecting the capacity of the soil to act as a methane sink. In order to provide insight into methanogenic populations in such soils, the distribution of archaeol in free and conjugated forms was investigated as an indicator of fossilised and living methanogenic biomass using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry with selected ion monitoring. Of three soils studied, only one organic matter-rich site contained archaeol in quantifiable amounts. Assessment of the subsurface profile revealed a dominance of archaeol bound by glycosidic headgroups over phospholipids implying derivation from fossilised biomass. Moisture content, through control of organic carbon and anoxia, seemed to govern trends in methanogen biomass. Archaeol and crenarchaeol profiles differed, implying the former was not of thaumarcheotal origin. Based on these results, we propose the use of intact archaeol as a useful biomarker for methanogen biomass in soil and to track changes in moisture status and aeration related to climate change. Hindawi Publishing Corporation 2012-11-22 /pmc/articles/PMC3512251/ /pubmed/23226972 http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2012/896727 Text en Copyright © 2012 Katie L. H. Lim et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Lim, Katie L. H.
Pancost, Richard D.
Hornibrook, Edward R. C.
Maxfield, Peter J.
Evershed, Richard P.
Archaeol: An Indicator of Methanogenesis in Water-Saturated Soils
title Archaeol: An Indicator of Methanogenesis in Water-Saturated Soils
title_full Archaeol: An Indicator of Methanogenesis in Water-Saturated Soils
title_fullStr Archaeol: An Indicator of Methanogenesis in Water-Saturated Soils
title_full_unstemmed Archaeol: An Indicator of Methanogenesis in Water-Saturated Soils
title_short Archaeol: An Indicator of Methanogenesis in Water-Saturated Soils
title_sort archaeol: an indicator of methanogenesis in water-saturated soils
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3512251/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23226972
http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2012/896727
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