Fate of microbial biomass-derived amino acids in soil and their contribution to soil organic matter

Soil organic matter (SOM) is important for soil fertility and for the global C cycle. Previous studies have shown that during SOM formation no new compound classes are formed and that it consists basically of plant- and microorganism-derived materials. However, little data on the contribution from microbial sources are available. Therefore, we investigated previously in a model study the fate of C from ¹³C-labelled Gram-negative bacteria in soil (Kindler, R., Miltner, A. Richnow, H.H., Kästner, M., 2006. Fate of gram negative bacterial biomass in soil – mineralization and contribution to SOM. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 38, 2860–2870) and showed that 44% of the bulk ¹³C remained in the soil. Here we present the corresponding data on the fate of amino acids hydrolysed from proteins, which are the most abundant components of microbial biomass. After 224 days incubation, the label in the total amino acids in the soil amended with ¹³C-labelled cells decreased only to >95%. The total amino acids therefore clearly showed a lower turnover than the bulk ¹³C and a surprisingly stable concentration. Proteins therefore have to be considered as being stabilised in soil in dead, non-extractable biomass or cell fragments by known general stabilisation mechanisms. The label in the amino acids in a fraction highly enriched in living microbial biomass decreased to a greater extent, i.e. to 25% of the initially added amount. The amino acids removed from this fraction were redistributed via the microbial food web to non-living SOM. All amino acids in the microbial biomass were degraded at similar rates without a change in isotopic signature. The nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectra of the soils were very similar and indicate that the residues of the degraded microbial biomass were very similar to those of the SOM and are a significant source for the formation of the SOM.