Microbial DNA sample preservation and possible artifacts for field-based research in remote tropical peatlands.

Surveying bacterial and archaeal microbial communities in host and environmental studies requires the collection and storage of samples. Many studies are conducted in distant locations challenging these prerequisites. The use of preserving buffers is an important alternative when lacking access to cryopreservation, however, its effectivity for samples with challenging chemistry or samples that provide opportunities for fast bacterial or archaeal growth upon exposure to an aerobic environment, like peat samples, requires methodological assessment.

Coupled abiotic-biotic cycling of nitrous oxide in tropical peatlands.

Atmospheric nitrous oxide (NO) is a potent greenhouse gas thought to be mainly derived from microbial metabolism as part of the denitrification pathway. Here we report that in unexplored peat soils of Central and South America, NO production can be driven by abiotic reactions (≤98%) highly competitive to their enzymatic counterparts. Extracted soil iron positively correlated with in situ abiotic NO production determined by isotopic tracers.

Delineating the Drivers and Functionality of Methanogenic Niches within an Arid Landfill.

Microbial communities mediate the transformation of organic matter within landfills into methane (CH). Yet their ecological role in CH production is rarely evaluated. To characterize the microbiome associated with this biotransformation, the overall community and methanogenic were surveyed in an arid landfill using leachate collected from distinctly aged landfill cells (i.