Soil microbial communities play an important role in plant health and soil quality. Researchers have developed a wide range of methods for studying the structure, diversity, and activity of microbes to better understand soil biology and plant-microbe interactions. Functional microbiological analyses of the rhizosphere have given new insights into the role of microbial communities in plant nutri...

In order to precisely estimate the diversity in any microbial community, many samples of that community need to be analyzed. The accuracy of the diversity level increases linearly with the sample size until the full level of diversity in the community is recognized. The larger the number, the better is the estimate. However, due to both time and economic constraints, collecting and analyzing th...

Engineering microbial diversity to enhance soil functions may improve the success of direct revegetation in sulphidic mine tailings. Therefore, it is essential to explore how remediation and initial plant establishment can alter microbial communities, and, which edaphic factors control these changes under field conditions. A long-term revegetation trial was established at a Pb-Zn-Cu tailings im...

Microorganisms play a central role in the regulation of ecosystem processes, and they comprise the vast majority of species on Earth. With recent developments in molecular methods, it has become tractable to quantify the extent of microbial diversity in natural environments. Here we examine this revolution in our understanding of microbial diversity, and we explore the factors that contribute t...

To understand effects of soil microbes on soil biochemistry in alpine grassland ecosystems under environmental changes, we explored relationships between soil microbial diversity and soil total nitrogen, organic carbon, available nitrogen and phosphorus, soil microbial biomass and soil enzyme activities in alpine meadow, alpine steppe and cultivated grassland on the Qinghai-Tibetan plateau unde...

To examine soil microbial functional gene diversity and causative factors in tropical rainforests, we used a microarray-based metagenomic tool named GeoChip 5.0 to profile it. We found that high microbial functional gene diversity and different soil microbial metabolic potential for biogeochemical processes were considered to exist in tropical rainforest. Soil available nitrogen was the most as...

We report the soil microbial diversity and functional aspects related to degradation of recalcitrant compounds, determined using a metagenomic approach, in a landfill lysimeter prepared with soil from Ghazipur landfill site, New Delhi, India. Metagenomic analysis revealed the presence and functional diversity of complex microbial communities responsible for waste degradation.

Citation: Valdespino-Castillo PM, Hu P, Merino-Ibarra M, López-Gómez LM, Cerqueda-García D, González-De Zayas R, Pi-Puig T, Lestayo JA, Holman H-Y and Falcón LI (2018) Exploring Biogeochemistry and Microbial Diversity of Extant Microbialites in Mexico and Cuba. Front. Microbiol. 9:510. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2018.00510 Exploring Biogeochemistry and Microbial Diversity of Extant Microbialites in Mex...

BACKGROUND Low total diversity of the gut microbiota during the first year of life is associated with allergic diseases in infancy, but little is known how early microbial diversity is related to allergic disease later in school age. OBJECTIVE To assess microbial diversity and characterize the dominant bacteria in stool during the first year of life in relation to the prevalence of different ...

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH)-contaminated soils are of concern to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) due to their mutagenic and carcinogenic nature. Bioremediation of PAHs is aimed at increasing the overall rate of natural degradation. Microbial bioremediation promotes processes by which microorganisms can take up and/or degrade organic molecules and their metabolites. Microorga...