Alaskan Tundra Soil Meta-Omics following Rainfall

In this experiment, mesocosms containing soil from the active layer of two dominant tundra ecosystems were subjected to simulated rainfall to alter redox conditions. The microbial functional potential (metagenomics) and gene expression (metatranscriptomics) patterns were measured during saturated anoxic redox conditions prior to rainfall and at multiple time points following the simulated rainfall event. The purpose was to determine if rainfall, as a form of soil oxidation, is sufficient to alter the anoxic redox conditions in arctic tundra and enhance the microbial degradation of organic carbon and methane to carbon dioxide.

本实验中，研究人员针对两类优势北极苔原生态系统的冻土活动层（active layer）土壤构建中宇宙实验系统（mesocosms），并通过施加模拟降雨以调控其氧化还原条件。在模拟降雨前的饱和缺氧氧化还原环境下，以及模拟降雨事件后的多个时间节点，分别测定了基于宏基因组学（metagenomics）的微生物功能潜力，与基于宏转录组学（metatranscriptomics）的基因表达模式。本研究旨在明确：作为土壤氧化过程的降雨，是否足以改变北极苔原的缺氧氧化还原环境，并增强微生物对有机碳与甲烷的降解能力，将其转化为二氧化碳。