Review paper on soil metabolomics
Paper led by Yang Song published in Eco-environment & Heath
D2O labelling demonstrates P limitation
Our paper was published today in Soil Biology & Biochemistry showing that D2O-Lipid-SIP can reveal P limitation of soil microbes
Paper published in ISME: microbial C storage
Paper published in ISME journal: Community composition and physiological plasticity control microbial carbon storage across natural and experimental soil fertility gradients
Isotope labelling provides exciting insights into the role of trehalose in Birch effect
Paper published today in Soil Biology & Biochemistry that used a 13C labelling technique to investigate the source(s) of C that fuel the pulse of respired CO2 and growth in microbial biomass when a dry soil is re-wet. The main findings were: Trehalose was the most 13C-enriched pool in dry soil, indicating upregulation of synthesis …
Paper published: phospholipid substitution in plants and soil microbes
PhD student Grace Liang’s paper on membrane lipids in plants and soil microbes has been published in Plant and Soil.
Paper published: turnover of leaf lipids in soil
Hot off the press in Plant and Soil, our paper investigates the turnover of leaf lipids in soil. We developed a workflow involving extraction of U-13C lipids from wheat grown with 13CO2, and their subsequent minimally invasive and rapid addition to soil as a suspension in water. Loss of intact lipid was determined from LC-MS, …
Paper published: N dynamics in alpine soils
Paper led by Samantha Grover published in Soil Research explores N dynamics in four mountain soils from south-eastern Australia. Moderate turnover times and high stabilization of organic matter support Costin’s theory that these mountain soils formed in place as a result of biological activity, rather than reflecting their geological substrata. The pools of organic N …
Paper on D2O-lipid-SIP published
Paper published today in Soil Biology & Biochemistry describing a new way to estimate growth of soil microbes. We developed an analytical pipeline centred around D2O as a universal label coupled with LC-MS quantification of intact polar lipids. Quantification of 2H enrichment of a broad spectrum of lipids was possible in soils incubated with 50 …
Two PhD scholarships available
Two PhD scholarships are available now to investigate interactive effect of plants, microbes and mineralogy in stabilisation of organic matter. Follow the links for further details: project 1; project 2
3-year postdoc position available
A 3 year postdoc position is available in the plant-soil interactions lab. Use imaging, metabolomics, isotope labeling, metagenomics to uncover how plants alter the biophysical processes in the rhizosphere. For details and to apply