plant metagenome Targeted loci environmental

Northern peatlands constitute one of the largest natural sources of methane emission. Their inhabiting plant community is dominated by bryophytes of Sphagnaceae and Amblystegiaceae (brown mosses), that can be associated with microbial communities of the methane cycle. Sphagnum mosses prefer oligotrophic, acidic bogs and are known to be colonized by with methane-oxidizing bacteria. Brown mosses and their microbiome grow in mesotrophic, neutral wetlands and have been poorly studied, even though they reduce methane emissions from Arctic polygonal peatlands. Overall the role of methanogenic archaea associated with mosses is not clarified.