Microbial photosynthetic and photoprotective pigments in Himalayan soils originating from different elevations and successional stages

Publication date: Available online 16 February 2019Source: Soil Biology and BiochemistryAuthor(s): Klara Rehakova, Katerina Capkova, Pavel Hrouzek, Michal Koblizek, Jiri DolezalAbstractSoil microbes evolved complex metabolic strategies including photoprotective and photosynthetic pigments to survive the environmental stress including high UV irradiance, oscillating temperature and drought. Despite pigment importance for survival of soil microbes in alpine ecosystems, there have been few efforts documenting the soil pigment content, diversity and the dependence on microbial soil community, soil physico-chemical properties and constraining climatic factors. We examine how the composition and content of pigments in microbial soil communities in the Himalayas differ between major habitats spread across an elevation 4300 – 6000 m including cold deserts, steppes, alpine and subnival vegetation, and between several primary successional stages behind retreating glaciers, in relation to soil nutrient and water availability. Scytonemin was the prominent pigment across all of the studied habitats, followed by chlorophyll a, b; myxoxanthophyll and β-carotene. Rarely documented microbial pigments were also detected, including bacteriochlorophyll a and (2S,29S)-oscillol 2,29-di(a-l-fucoside). The contents of most of the investigated pigments showed a unimodal-shape relation to the cyanobacterial biomass. Pigments also differed in elevation optima. Alpine meadow soils had more diverse mi...

Source: Soil Biology and Biochemistry - February 16, 2019 Category: Biology Source Type: research