Abstract
Extracellular soil enzymes are fundamental for the functioning of ecosystems. Several processes in the soil depend on the activity of these enzymes, including plant decomposition, soil organic matter formation/mineralization, and nutrient cycling. Moreover, extracellular enzyme activity occurs in the soil and is therefore influenced by environmental factors. Due to the high sensitivity to these factors, extracellular enzymes are used for monitoring soil quality. This review aimed to present the main contributions of soil enzymes to agriculture, emphasizing the dynamics [...]
Highlights
Soil is a mediator of several chemical, physical and biological processes that are fundamental to maintain the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems (Dick and Burns, 2011)
Organic matter plays a critical role in soil fertility, the global carbon cycle, and heavy metal complexation (Simpson and Simpson, 2016; Gmach et al, 2020), and soil organisms depend on enzyme-mediated catalytic activity (Dotaniya et al, 2019)
This review aims to present the fundamental contributions of soil enzymes to agriculture, emphasizing the dynamics of elements in soil and the environmental factors that modulate their activity
Summary
Soil is a mediator of several chemical, physical and biological processes that are fundamental to maintain the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems (Dick and Burns, 2011). Glucose molecules are the primary energy source of heterotrophic soil microorganisms, albeit they cannot directly access the glucose molecules present in cellulose structures This access depends on the breakdown of this polymer through the action of three extracellular enzymes (endoglucanases, cellobiosidases and β-d-glucosidases) that compose a generic group called cellulases (Figure 1). These molecules undergo deamination reactions, in which ammonium (NH4+) is produced and can be excreted into the soil solution During these processes, part of the C contained in the amino acid structure is mineralized as CO2. P mineralization is carried out by microorganisms that produce phosphatases (Kunze et al, 2011; Silva et al, 2015; Yada et al, 2015), and through the activity of these enzymes, organic P is transformed into phosphate (HPO42- or H2PO4-), which is the form that can be absorbed by plants (Figure 3i). This element is present in amino acids, such as methionine and cysteine (Lucheta and Lambais, 2012), making organic matter the largest reservoir of soil S
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