Nitrogen supply rate regulates microbial resource allocation for synthesis of nitrogen-acquiring enzymes

PLoS One. 2018 Aug 14;13(8):e0202086. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0202086. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

Although microorganisms will preferentially allocate resources to synthesis of nitrogen (N)-acquiring enzymes when soil N availability is low according to the resource allocation model for extracellular enzyme synthesis, a robust link between microbial N-acquiring enzyme activity and soil N concentration has not been reported. To verify this link, we measured several indices of soil N availability and enzyme activity of four N-acquiring enzymes [N-acetyl-β-glucosaminidase (NAG), protease (PR), urease (UR), and L-asparaginase (LA)] and a carbon (C)-acquiring enzyme [β-D-glucosidase (BG)] in arable and forest soils. Although the ratios of NAG/BG and PR/BG were not significantly related with indices of soil N availability, ratios of LA/BG and UR/BG were strongly and negatively related with potentially mineralizable N estimated by aerobic incubation but not with pools of labile inorganic N and organic N. These results suggest that microorganisms might allocate their resources to LA and UR synthesis in response to N supply rate rather than the size of the easily available N pools. It was also suggested that the underlying mechanism for synthesis was different between these N-acquiring enzymes in soil microorganisms: microbial LA and UR were primarily synthesized to acquire N, whereas NAG and PR syntheses were regulated not only by N availability but also by other factors.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Asparaginase
  • Nitrogen / chemistry*
  • Nitrogen / metabolism
  • Phosphorus
  • Soil Microbiology*
  • Soil* / chemistry
  • beta-Glucosidase

Substances

  • Soil
  • Phosphorus
  • beta-Glucosidase
  • Asparaginase
  • Nitrogen

Grants and funding

This study was supported by JSPS (https://www.jsps.go.jp/english/index.html) KAKENHI Grant Number JP24510012 (to TK) and JP26292035 (to SO) and by a Management Expenses Grant from Shinshu University (to TK). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. There was no additional external funding received for this study.