Publication Date:
2015-12-10
Description:
In the rhizosphere, the uptake of low molecular weight carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) by plant roots has been well documented. While organic N uptake relatively to total uptake is important, organic C uptake is supposed to be low relatively to the plant's C budget. Recently, radiocarbon analyses demonstrated that a fraction of C from the soil was occluded in amorphous silica micrometric particles that precipitate in plant cells (phytoliths). Here, we investigated whether and in which extent organic C absorbed by grass roots, under the form of either intact amino acids (AAs) or microbial metabolites, can feed the organic C occluded in phytoliths. For this purpose we added 13C- and 15N-labeled AAs to the silicon-rich hydroponic solution of the grass Festuca arundinacea. The experiment was designed to prevent C leakage from the labeled nutritive solution to the chamber atmosphere. After 14 days of growth, the 13C and 15N enrichments (13C-excess and 15N-excess) in the roots, stems and leaves, and phytoliths, as well as the 13C-excess in AAs extracted from roots and stems and leaves, were quantified relatively to a control experiment in which no labelled AAs were added. The net uptake of 13C derived from the labeled AAs supplied to the nutritive solution (AA-13C) by Festuca arundinacea represented 4.5 % of the total AA-13C supply. AA-13C fixed in the plant represented only 0.13 % of total C. However, the experimental conditions may have underestimated the extent of the process under natural and field conditions. Previous studies showed that 15N and 13C can be absorbed by the roots in several organic and inorganic forms. In the present experiment, the fact that phenylalanine and methionine, that were supplied in high amount to the nutritive solution, were more 13C-enriched than other AAs in the roots and stems and leaves strongly suggested that part of AA-13C was absorbed and translocated in its original AA form. The concentration of AA-13C represented only 0.15 % of the phytolith C (phytC) but was still 1.5 times higher in phytoliths than in leaves supporting that, ultimately, AA-13C was preferentially fixed in organic compounds subject to occlusion in phytoliths. Plausible forms of AA-13C and AA-15N absorbed and translocated, AA-13C fixation in phytoliths and implication of our finding for our understanding of the C cycle at the plant-soil interface are discussed.
Print ISSN:
1810-6277
Electronic ISSN:
1810-6285
Topics:
Biology
,
Geosciences
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