Fungi play a crucial role in sustaining microbial networks and accelerating organic matter mineralization and humification during thermophilic phase of composting

Lin Zhu; Xiaohan Wang; Liyuan Liu; Boyi Le; Chunxu Tan; Chifei Dong; Xiangwu Yao; Baolan Hu

doi:10.1016/j.envres.2024.119155

Fungi play a crucial role in sustaining microbial networks and accelerating organic matter mineralization and humification during thermophilic phase of composting

Environ Res. 2024 May 14:254:119155. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2024.119155. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Lin Zhu¹, Xiaohan Wang², Liyuan Liu², Boyi Le², Chunxu Tan², Chifei Dong², Xiangwu Yao², Baolan Hu³

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Environment Remediation and Ecological Health, Ministry of Education, College of Environmental Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China; College of Environmental & Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China.
² College of Environmental & Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Environment Remediation and Ecological Health, Ministry of Education, College of Environmental Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China; College of Environmental & Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China; Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory for Water Pollution Control and Environmental Safety, Hangzhou, China. Electronic address: blhu@zju.edu.cn.

PMID: 38754614
DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2024.119155

Abstract

Fungi play an important role in the mineralization and humification of refractory organic matter such as lignocellulose during composting. However, limited research on the ecological role of fungi in composting system hindered the development of efficient microbial agents. In this study, six groups of lab-scale composting experiments were conducted to reveal the role of fungal community in composting ecosystems by comparing them with bacterial community. The findings showed that the thermophilic phase was crucial for organic matter degradation and humic acid formation. The Richness index of the fungal community peaked at 1165 during this phase. PCoA analysis revealed a robust thermal stability in the fungal community. Despite temperature fluctuations, the community structure, predominantly governed by Pichia and Candida, remained largely unaltered. The stability of fungal community and the complexity of ecological networks were 1.26 times and 5.15 times higher than those observed in bacterial community, respectively. Fungi-bacteria interdomain interaction markedly enhanced network complexity, contributing to maintain microbial ecological functions. The core fungal species belonging to the family Saccharomycetaceae drove interdomain interaction during thermophilic phase. This study demonstrated the key role of fungi in the composting system, which would provide theoretical guidance for the development of high efficiency composting agents to strengthen the mineralization and humification of organic matter.

Keywords: Aerobic compost; Fungal community; Humification; Interdomain interaction.