Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 14, 2026

Isolation and Analysis of Microbial Communities in Soil, Rhizosphere, and Roots in Perennial Grass Experiments
Published on: July 24, 2018
Metagenomic analysis reveals a marked divergence in the structure of belowground microbial communities at elevated
Zhili He1, Meiying Xu, Ye Deng
1Institute for Environmental Genomics and Department of Botany and Microbiology,University of Oklahoma,Norman, OK 73019, USA.
Abstract:
Understanding the responses of biological communities to elevated CO2 (eCO2) is a central issue in ecology, but little is known about the influence of eCO2 on the structure and functioning (and consequent feedbacks to plant productivity) of the belowground microbial community. Here, using metagenomic technologies, we showed that 10 years of field exposure of a grassland ecosystem to eCO2 dramatically altered the structure and functional potential of soil microbial communities. Total microbial and bacterial biomass were significantly increased at eCO2, but fungal biomass was unaffected. The structure of microbial communities was markedly different between ambient CO2 (aCO2) and eCO2 as indicated by detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) of gene-based pyrosequencing data and functional gene array data. While the abundance of genes involved in decomposing recalcitrant C remained unchanged, those involved in labile C degradation and C and N fixation were significantly increased under eCO2. Changes in microbial structure were significantly correlated with soil C and N contents and plant productivity. This study provides insights into potential activity of microbial community and associated feedback responses of terrestrial ecosystems to eCO2.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Microbial Mats
Soil Microbial Ecology
Microbes and Methanogenesis
Deep Sea Microbial Ecology
Methods to Assess Microbial Communities
Microbes and Climate Change

