Evidence for Soil Enzymes' Control of Soil Carbon Storage (IMAGE)

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Evidence for Soil Enzymes' Control of Soil Carbon Storage

Caption

Soil fungi that produce a particular enzyme, ligninase, may exert "keystone" control over soil carbon, a large reservoir that microbes can convert to CO2, a greenhouse gas. The enzyme attacks lignin -- the molecule that makes wood tough -- and lignin-like molecules in soil. This material relates to a paper that appeared in the Aug. 22, 2018, issue of Science Advances, published by AAAS. The paper, by J. Chen at Northwestern Polytechnical University in Xi'an, China, and colleagues was titled, "A keystone microbial enzyme for nitrogen control of soil carbon storage."

Credit

[Credit: Victor Leshyk, Center for Ecosystem Science and Society, Northern Arizona University]

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