Cullars Rotation top soil metagenome and 16S analysis (Shotgun)

In this investigation we use a novel method to enrich for CPR genomes from an agricultural soil, revealing that some CPR genomes from soil have the predicted capacity to degrade plant-derived complex carbohydrates. In addition, by comparing the relative abundance of CPR genomes in different plots of a long term soil fertility experiment we observed that some CPR genomes varied in their abundance particularly under conditions of acidic soils and higher soil concentrations of aluminum and iron. These data support the conclusion that CPR bacteria are phylogenetically and functionally diverse in soils and that their contributions to soil microbial ecology and plant-microbial interactions are deserving of further study.