Microbial Consumption of Methanol in a Grassland

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Steffen Kolb
• Subject Area: Microbial Ecology and Applied Microbiology ; Soil Sciences
• Term: from 2014 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 255179679

Grasslands are substantial global sources of methanol, which is a highly abundant and reactive volatile organic compound (VOC) in the troposphere. However, environmental physiology of soil microorganisms that impact on methanol flux in terrestrial ecosystems has largely not been investigated. Previous work of the applicant suggests that hitherto unknown soil bacteria are involved in ambient methanol oxidation of aerated soil. The proposed project will address aerobic and anaerobic methanol-utilizers (incl. Gram-positive bacteria and fungi) in temperate grassland. It will be tested with four abundant grassland plant species if those are associated with distinct soil and phyllosphere methanol utilizer communities employing stable isotope probing (SIP). Over a vegetation period, methanol flux and transcribed gene markers of active methanol utilizers will be assessed at the investigated grassland, and in a corroborative laboratory experiment the ratio of below-ground and above-ground methanol flux will be resolved. 14C tracer experiments will be used to localize activities in soil and plants. The identities of active anaerobic methanol utilizers will be resolved and their dependence on unusual trace nutrients (rare earth elements) will be experimentally determined. In collaboration with J. Williams (MPI Mainz) and A. Held (University Bayreuth) in situ fluxes of methanol will be measured by proton transfer mass spectrometry (PTR MS) aiming at correlation of flux data with in situ active microorganisms. The proposed work will set the stage for an upscaling of single-species physiology and distribution to ecosystem-level methanol flux in grassland.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Participating Persons: Professor Dr. Rolf Daniel; Professor Dr. Andreas B. Held; Professor Dr. Jonathan Williams; Dr. Steffen Zacharias