Effect of salt stress on aerobic methane oxidation and associated methanotrophs; a microcosm study of a natural community from a non-saline environment

authored by

Adrian Ho, Yongliang Mo, Hyo Jung Lee, Leopold Sauheitl, Zhongjun Jia, Marcus A. Horn

Abstract

We investigated the response of aerobic methane oxidation and the associated methanotrophs to salt-stress in a NaCl gradient ranging from 0 M (un-amended reference) to 0.6 M NaCl (seawater salinity) using a rice paddy soil as a model system. Salt-stress significantly inhibited methanotrophic activity at > 0.3 M NaCl; at 0.6 M NaCl amendment, methanotrophic activity fully ceased. MiSeq sequencing of the pmoA gene and group-specific qPCR analyses revealed that type Ia methanotroph (Methylobacter) appeared to be favored under salinity up to 0.3 M NaCl, increasing in numerical abundance, while the type Ib was adversely affected. This suggests niche differentiation within members of the gammaproteobacterial methanotrophs. Overall, rice paddy soil methanotrophs showed remarkable resistance to salt-stress.

Organisation(s)

Institute of Microbiology
Section Soil Chemistry
Leibniz Research Centre FZ:GEO

Type

Article

Journal

Soil Biology and Biochemistry

Volume

125

Pages

210-214

No. of pages

5

ISSN

0038-0717

Publication date

10.2018

Publication status

Published

Peer reviewed

Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Microbiology, Soil Science

Electronic version(s)

https://doi.org/10.15488/15939 (Access: Open)
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2018.07.013 (Access: Closed)