Abstract
The process of nitrogen (N) transformation after microbial utilisation of organic and inorganic N is unclear. 15N-glycine (Gly), 15NH4+ and 15NO3− were used to investigate the uptake, release and reutilisation of N by microorganisms over 9 days. In addition, high amounts of unlabelled carbon (C) or N were added to explore how C or N availability affects the cycling of inorganic and organic N by microorganisms. Within 15 min, 67% of the added 15N-Gly was taken up by soil microorganisms; within 1 h, 8% was released as NH4+. The released 15NH4+ was reutilised by the microorganisms within hours. Microorganisms took up 50% of the added 15NH4+ (15 min) and released 13% of the taken up NH4+ (1 h). Microorganisms prefer to take up Gly rather than NH4+ because they can directly acquire C from Gly for maintaining its growth and synthesising more complex compounds. NO3− was taken up by microorganisms within minutes but not released into the soil. NO3− was likely stored in the cytoplasm, to be used as an N source to face future N-deficient environments. When high concentrations of C or N were added, the assimilation of Gly and NH4+ increased, whereas N mineralisation and nitrification rates decreased, and the uptake of NO3− remained stable. Overall, Gly and NH4+ were taken up, released and re-taken up by microorganisms and were preferentially utilised under excess C or N sources, while NO3− was stored in the microbiome. These findings provide new insights into N uptake by microorganisms in short-term.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32102488, 32172674); Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (LZ23C150002); Zhejiang Key Research and Development Program (2022C02018, 2023C02016); UK–China Virtual Joint Centre for Agricultural Nitrogen [grant number CINAg, BB/N013468/1], which is jointly supported by the Newton Fund, via UK BBSRC and NERC, and the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology.
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National Natural Science Foundation of China, 32102488, Lianghuan Wu, 32172674, Lianghuan Wu, 31872180, Lianghuan Wu, UK–China Virtual Joint Centre for Agricultural Nitrogen, CINAg, Davey L. Jones, BB/N013468/1, Davey L. Jones
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Wankun Pan, Lianghuan Wu, and Qingxu Ma designed the study, analysed the data, and drafted the manuscript. Sheng Tang and Jingjie Zhou collected the data. Karina A. Marsden, David R. Chadwick, and Davey L. Jones interpreted the results and revised the manuscript and data presentation.
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Supplementary file1 Changes in the content of NH4+ and NO3− in the soil extractable pool over time (15 min, 1 h, 6 h, 24 h, 3 d, and 9 d). Data are shown as means ± standard error of the mean (SEM; n = 4). Lowercase letters indicate significant differences in each treatment over time. (DOCX 265 KB)
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Pan, W., Zhou, J., Tang, S. et al. Utilisation and transformation of organic and inorganic nitrogen by soil microorganisms and its regulation by excessive carbon and nitrogen availability. Biol Fertil Soils 59, 379–389 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-023-01712-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00374-023-01712-w