HT-SIP: a semi-automated stable isotope probing pipeline identifies cross-kingdom interactions in the hyphosphere of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi.

Background: Linking the identity of wild microbes with their ecophysiological traits and environmental functions is a key ambition for microbial ecologists. Of many techniques that strive for this goal, Stable-isotope probing-SIP-remains among the most comprehensive for studying whole microbial communities in situ. In DNA-SIP, actively growing microorganisms that take up an isotopically heavy substrate build heavier DNA, which can be partitioned by density into multiple fractions and sequenced.

Redox Fluctuations Control the Coupled Cycling of Iron and Carbon in Tropical Forest Soils.

Oscillating redox conditions are a common feature of humid tropical forest soils, driven by an ample supply and dynamics of reductants, high moisture, microbial oxygen consumption, and finely textured clays that limit diffusion. However, the net result of variable soil redox regimes on iron (Fe) mineral dynamics and associated carbon (C) forms and fluxes is poorly understood in tropical soils. Using a 44-day redox incubation experiment with humid tropical forest soils from Puerto Rico, we examined patterns in Fe and C transformations under four redox regimes: static anoxic, "flux 4-day" (4d oxic, 4d anoxic), "flux 8-day" (8d oxic, 4d anoxic) and static oxic.

Unearthing the Ecology of Soil Microorganisms Using a High Resolution DNA-SIP Approach to Explore Cellulose and Xylose Metabolism in Soil.

We explored microbial contributions to decomposition using a sophisticated approach to DNA Stable Isotope Probing (SIP). Our experiment evaluated the dynamics and ecological characteristics of functionally defined microbial groups that metabolize labile and structural C in soils. We added to soil a complex amendment representing plant derived organic matter substituted with either (13)C-xylose or (13)C-cellulose to represent labile and structural C pools derived from abundant components of plant biomass.

A Latitudinal Diversity Gradient in Terrestrial Bacteria of the Genus Streptomyces.

Unlabelled: We show that Streptomyces biogeography in soils across North America is influenced by the regional diversification of microorganisms due to dispersal limitation and genetic drift.Streptomyces spp. form desiccation-resistant spores, which can be dispersed on the wind, allowing for a strong test of whether dispersal limitation governs patterns of terrestrial microbial diversity.

Grappling with Proteus: population level approaches to understanding microbial diversity.

The emerging fields of microbial population genetics and genomics provide an avenue to study the ecological rules that govern how communities form, function, and evolve. Our struggle to understand the causes and consequences of microbial diversity stems from our inability to define ecologically and evolutionarily meaningful units of diversity. The 16S rRNA-based tools that have been so useful in charting microbial diversity may lack sufficient sensitivity to answer many questions about the ecology and evolution of microbes.