美国芝加哥大学Seppe Kuehn团队近日取得一项新成果。经过不懈努力，他们的最新研究揭示了功能机制定义了土壤微生物组对环境变化的响应。2025年7月16日出版的《自然》杂志发表了这项成果。

在这里，该课题组人员通过将呼吸硝酸盐代谢的动态测量与建模相结合来解决这一复杂性，以揭示定义土壤对环境变化响应的功能机制。对超过1500个土壤微观环境进行pH扰动的测量揭示了代谢物动力学的不同机制。一个具有两个参数的最小模型，生物量活性和生长限制养分有效性，预测硝酸盐利用动态跨越土壤和pH扰动。扰动下的参数变化揭示了三种功能状态，每种状态都与不同的机制有关：(1)以细胞死亡和代谢抑制为标志的酸性状态；(2)优势类群利用基质释放的养分的营养限制机制；(3)在营养丰富的条件下，稀有类群的指数增长驱动的复苏生长机制。该课题组通过营养测量、修正实验、测序和分离研究验证了这些模型衍生的机制。另外的实验和荟萃分析表明，功能机制在ph扰动土壤中广泛存在。

研究人员表示，土壤微生物群的代谢活动在全球养分循环中起着核心作用。了解土壤代谢活动如何响应气候驱动的环境扰动是一个关键挑战。然而，土壤的生态、空间和化学复杂性阻碍了对这些群落如何响应扰动的理解。

附：英文原文

Title: Functional regimes define soil microbiome response to environmental change

Author: Lee, Kiseok Keith, Liu, Siqi, Crocker, Kyle, Wang, Jocelyn, Huggins, David R., Tikhonov, Mikhail, Mani, Madhav, Kuehn, Seppe

Issue&Volume: 2025-07-16

Abstract: The metabolic activity of soil microbiomes has a central role in global nutrient cycles1. Understanding how soil metabolic activity responds to climate-driven environmental perturbations is a key challenge2,3. However, the ecological, spatial and chemical complexity of soils4,5,6 impedes understanding how these communities respond to perturbations. Here we address this complexity by combining dynamic measurements of respiratory nitrate metabolism7 with modelling to reveal functional regimes that define soil responses to environmental change. Measurements across more than 1,500 soil microcosms subjected to pH perturbations8,9 reveal regimes in which distinct mechanisms govern metabolite dynamics. A minimal model with two parameters, biomass activity and growth-limiting nutrient availability, predicts nitrate utilization dynamics across soils and pH perturbations. Parameter shifts under perturbation reveal three functional regimes, each linked to distinct mechanisms: (1) an acidic regime marked by cell death and suppressed metabolism; (2) a nutrient-limited regime in which dominant taxa exploit matrix-released nutrients; and (3) a resurgent growth regime driven by exponential growth of rare taxa in nutrient-rich conditions. We validated these model-derived mechanisms with nutrient measurements, amendment experiments, sequencing and isolate studies. Additional experiments and meta-analyses suggest that functional regimes are widespread in pH-perturbed soils.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-09264-9

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09264-9