Microbial metabolism soils

In the soil, an imbalance of amino acids, the presence of D-amino acids derived from microbial metabolism, or analogs and homologs of constituent protein amino acids could produce a deviation in the... 

Watson K, RB Cain (1975) Microbial metabolism of the pyridine ring. Metabolic pathways of pyridine biodegradation by soil bacteria. Biochem J 146 157-172. 

Soil microorganisms produce many compounds that are potentially toxic to higher plants. Examples include members of the following antibiotics (1-6), fatty and phenolic acids (7-12), amino compounds (13-15), and trichothecenes (16, 17). "Soil sickness" and "replant problems" have been reported where certain crops or their residues interfere with establishment of a subsequent crop (18, 19). Toxins resulting from microbial activity sometimes are involved, but it is often unclear whether these are synthesized de novo in microbial metabolism or are breakdown products of the litter itself (20). 

Wagai R, Sollins P (2002) Biodegradation and regeneration of water-soluble carbon in a forest soil leaching column study. Biol Fertil Soils 35 18-26 Wardle DA, Ghani A (1995) A critique of the microbial metabolic quotient (qC02) as a bioindicator of disturbance and ecosystem development. Soil Biol Biochem 27 1601-1610... 

Soil Gas The minmum 02 concentration that can support aerobic metabolism in unsaturated soil is approximately 1%. 02 diffuses into soil because of pressure gradients, and CO 2 moves out of soil because of diffusivity gradients. Excess water restricts the movement of 02 into and through the soil. A minimum air-filled pore volume of 10% is considered adequate for aeration. Soil gas surveys using a mobile geoprobe unit have become a valuable tool to demonstrate a zone of enhanced microbial metabolism in the subsurface. 

Chlordecone is similar to mirex in structure and is also highly persistent in soils and sediments (halflife expected to be analogous to 10 years duration for mirex) because of its resistance to biodegradation, although some microbial metabolism of chlordecone has been reported (Lai and Saxena 1982 Ordorff and Colwell 1980). No evidence of microbial degradation was detected for chlordecone exposed to hydrosoils from a reservoir (not previously contaminated with chlordecone) and from Bailey Creek (contaminated with chlordecone) under either anaerobic or aerobic conditions for 56 days (Huckins et al. 1982). 

The nature of the radioactivity in the water, soil and fish from the carbon-14 DDT experiment was examined by thin-layer chromatography as shown in Figure 5. The radioactivity in the water was very polar in nature and did not migrate appreciably from the origin. About 78% of the radioactivity in the soil was extracted with methanol. The major metabolite in the extractable fraction was DDD which represented 33% of the total radioactivity. The reductive dechlorination of DDT to DDD is a known pathway under anaerobic conditions and has been shown to be due to microbial metabolism (5). Since carbon-14 DDT was incor-... 

Soil Benzidine was added to different soils and incubated in the dark at 23 °C under a carbon dioxide-free atmosphere. After 1 yr, 8.3 to 11.6% of the added benzidine degraded to carbon dioxide primarily by microbial metabolism and partially by hydrolysis (Graveel et al, 1986). Tentatively identified biooxidation compounds using GC/MS include hydroxybenzidine, 3-hydroxybenzidine, 4-amino-4 -nitrobiphenyl, A(A -dihydroxybenzidine, 3,3 -dihydroxybenzidine and 4,4 -dinitrobiphenyl (Baird et al, 1977). Under aerobic conditions, the half-life was estimated to be 2 to 8 d (Lu et ah, 1977). 

Rosenberg, A. and Alexander, M. Microbial metabolism of 2,4,5-trichlorophenoxyacetic acid in soil, soil suspensions, and axenic culture, 7 Agric. Food Chem., 28 297-302, 1980. 

The microbial metabolic process is the major mechanism for the transformation of toxic organic chemicals in the subsurface environment. The transformation process may be the result of a primary metabolic reaction, when the organic molecule is degraded by a direct microbial metabolism. Alternatively, the transformation process may be an indirect, secondary effect of the microbial population on the chemical and physical properties of the subsurface constituents. Bollag and Liu (1990), considering behavior of pesticides, defined five basic processes involved in microbially mediated transformation of toxic organic molecules in the soil upper layer environment. These processes are described next. 

Transport and Transformation of Chemicals A Perspective. - Transport Processes in Air. - Solubility, Partition Coefficients, Volatility, and Evaporation Rates. - Adsorption Processes in Soil. - Sedimentation Processes in the Sea. - Chemical and Photo Oxidatioa - Atmospheric Photochemistry. -Photochemistry at Surfaces and Interphases. -Microbial Metabolism. - Plant Uptake, Transport and Metabolism. - Metabolism and Distribution by Aquatic Animals. - Laboratory Microecosystems. - Reaction Types in the Environment. -Subject Index. 

Because of their large surface-to-volume ratio and high metabolic activity, microorganisms are important vectors in the introduction of heavy metal and radionuclide pollutants into food webs. As discussed in Chapter 5, heavy metals in soils and sediments tend to be immobilized by precipitation at neutral to alkaline pH and/or adsorption to cation exchange sites of clay minerals. Microbial production of acid and chelating agents can reverse this adsorption and mobilize toxic metals. Microbial metabolism products that can chelate metals include... 

---