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Updated: Jul 7, 2026

Extraction and Analysis of Microbial Phospholipid Fatty Acids in Soils
Published on: August 26, 2016
[Microbial community changes during the degradation of straw using phospholipid fatty acid analysis]
Man Yu1, Guang-Ming Zeng, Yao-Ning Chen
1College of Environmental Science and Engneering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, China. yuman20030703@yahoo.com.cn
Abstract:
Solid-state fermentation system of rice straw was established with the inoculation of soil microorganism and Phanerochaete chrysosporium. Microbial biomass and community structure were investigated using the phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) technique, and the changes of lignocellulose's degradation rate were also detected during the process. The experimental results show that lignocellulose degradation rate reaches 44% after fermentation. When the total amount of phospholipid fatty acid is separated into indicator phospholipid fatty acids for different groups of microorganisms, these groups show different patterns during the process. Contents of PLFA in gram-positive bacteria, gram-negative and fungi reach their peak value on the sixth day. Gram-positive bacteria have lower contents. The PLFA content ratio of fungi and bacteria is 0.2 - 0.5, so fungi are the main community decomposing lignocellulose. Principal component analysis of the PLFA data show that 18 carbon unsaturated fatty acids are the major fatty acids at the end of the process, which is consistent with the results of indicator phospholipid fatty acids and lignocellulose's degradation rates, so PLFA technique is able to fairly well detect the changes of microbial biomass and community structure in solid-state fermentation system of rice straw.
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