Microbial community structure in soils with decomposing residues from plants with genetic modifications to lignin biosynthesis

Catherine Hénault*, Lorna C English, Claire Halpin, Francis Andreux, David W Hopkins

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

24 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Lignin is a major determinant of the decomposition of plant materials in soils. Advances in transgenic technology have led to the possibility of modifying lignin to improve the pulping properties of plant materials for papermaking. Previous studies have shown that lignin modifications also affect the rate of plant material decay in soil. The aim of this work was to investigate short-term changes in soil microbial community structures when tobacco residues with reduced activity of enzymes in the monolignol pathway decompose. The residues from lignin-modified plants all decomposed faster than unmodified plant materials. The relative proportions of some of the structural groups of microbial phospholipid fatty acids were affected by genetic modifications, especially the proportion of double unsaturated chain fatty acids, indicative of fungi.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)68-75
Number of pages8
JournalFEMS Microbiology Letters
Volume263
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPrint publication - Oct 2006
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Alcohol oxidoreductases
  • Bacteria
  • Carbon metabolism
  • Fungi metabolism
  • Lignin biosynthesis
  • Methyltransferases
  • Nitrogen metabolism
  • Paper
  • Plant stems
  • Soil microbiology
  • Tobacco genetics

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