Abstract
Soil organic matter contains more carbon than global vegetation and the atmosphere combined. Gaining access to this source of organic carbon is challenging and requires at least partial removal of polyphenolic and/or soil mineral protections, followed by subsequent enzymatic or chemical cleavage of diverse plant polysaccharides. Soil-feeding animals make significant contributions to the recycling of terrestrial organic matter. Some humivorous earthworms, beetles, and termites, among others, have evolved the ability to mineralize recalcitrant soil organic matter, thereby leading to their tremendous ecological success in the (sub)tropical areas. This ability largely relies on their symbiotic associations with a diverse community of gut microbes. Recent integrative omics studies, including genomics, metagenomics, and proteomics, provide deeper insights into the functions of gut symbionts. In reviewing this literature, we emphasized that understanding how these soil-feeding fauna catabolize soil organic substrates not only reveals the key microbes in the intestinal processes but also uncovers the potential novel enzymes with considerable biotechnological interests.
Highlights
Soil organic matter (SOM) is massive and representative of a major organic carbon pool on the planet, which is considered as an essential agent in maintaining ecosystem productivity and sustainability through its physical, chemical, and biological properties
We provide an overview of the recent omics-based research, including soildwelling fauna and their associated gut bacterial genomic and metagenomic studies, which have led to a deeper understanding of soil organic matter degradation processes and uncovered the presence of only recently recognized microbial symbionts and relevant degradative enzymes
The stability of soil organic matter including peptides, amino acids, and polysaccharides is strongly related to the presence of humic substances, which is largely owing to the polymerization of aromatic units during the humification (Shan et al, 2010)
Summary
Beetles, and termites, among others, have evolved the ability to mineralize recalcitrant soil organic matter, thereby leading to their tremendous ecological success in the (sub)tropical areas. This ability largely relies on their symbiotic associations with a diverse community of gut microbes. Recent integrative omics studies, including genomics, metagenomics, and proteomics, provide deeper insights into the functions of gut symbionts In reviewing this literature, we emphasized that understanding how these soil-feeding fauna catabolize soil organic substrates reveals the key microbes in the intestinal processes and uncovers the potential novel enzymes with considerable biotechnological interests
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