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Oligopeptides Represent a Preferred Source of Organic N Uptake: A Global Phenomenon?

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Abstract

Over the past 20 years, our understanding of soil nitrogen (N) cycling has changed with evidence that amino acids are major substrates for both soil microorganisms and plants. However, the recent discovery that plants and microorganisms can directly utilize small peptides in soil needs to be evaluated for its ecological significance, because peptides are released earlier in protein decomposition and thus would provide significant competitive advantage to any organism that can use them directly. We tested whether soil microorganisms took up peptides faster than amino acids across a broad range of ecosystems. We show that l-enantiomeric-peptidic-N is taken up significantly faster than the equivalent monomer, and that this is universal across soils from different ecosystems, with distinct microbial communities. Peptides may have an unrecognized, global, importance in the terrestrial N cycle, providing N to soil microorganisms at an earlier stage of decomposition than previously acknowledged.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the funding provided by the UK Natural Environment Research Council. Thanks also to Mr Jonathan Roberts and Mr Gordon Turner of Bangor University for their assistance in the laboratory; and to Dr David Lucy of Lancaster University and Dr Lynne Macdonald of CSIRO for statistical advice.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of the Environment, Natural Resources and Geography, College of Natural Sciences, Bangor University, Gwynedd, LL57 2UW, UK

    Mark Farrell, Paul W. Hill, John Farrar, Thomas H. DeLuca, Paula Roberts & Davey L. Jones

  2. Soil and Ecosystem Ecology Laboratory, Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Bailrigg, Lancaster, LA1 4YQ, UK

    Mark Farrell & Richard D. Bardgett

  3. CSIRO Land and Water/Sustainable Agriculture Flagship, PMB 2, Glen Osmond, SA, 5064, Australia

    Mark Farrell

  4. Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska, 99775, USA

    Knut Kielland

  5. Department of Land, Air and Water Resources, University of California, Davis, California, 95616, USA

    Randy Dahlgren

  6. Soil Biology Group, School of Earth and Environment, Institute of Agriculture, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Western Australia, 6009, Australia

    Daniel V. Murphy

  7. Rothamsted Research, North Wyke, Devon, EX20 2SB, UK

    Phil J. Hobbs

  8. School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington, Box 352100, Seattle, Washington, 98195-2100, USA

    Thomas H. DeLuca

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  1. Mark Farrell
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Correspondence to Mark Farrell.

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Author contributions

M.F., P.W.H. and D.L.J. conceived the investigation. All authors were involved in sample collection. M.F. and P.W.H carried out the experiments and data analysis. All authors discussed results and contributed to the preparation of the manuscript.

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Farrell, M., Hill, P.W., Farrar, J. et al. Oligopeptides Represent a Preferred Source of Organic N Uptake: A Global Phenomenon?. Ecosystems 16, 133–145 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-012-9601-8

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