Nitrogen deposition promotes the production of new fungal residues but retards the decomposition of old residues in forest soil fractions.

Atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition has frequently been observed to increase soil carbon (C) storage in forests, but the underlying mechanisms still remain unclear. Changes in microbial community composition and substrate use are hypothesized to be one of the key mechanisms affected by N inputs. Here, we investigated the effects of N deposition on amino sugars, which are used as biomarkers for fungal- and bacterial-derived microbial residues in soil. We made use of a 4-year combined CO2 enrichment and N deposition experiment in model forest ecosystems, providing a distinct (13) C signal for 'new' and 'old' C in soil organic matter and microbial residues measured in density and particle-size fractions of soils. Our hypothesis was that N deposition decreases the amount of fungal residues in soils, with the new microbial residues being more strongly affected than old residues. The soil fractionation showed that organic matter and microbial residues are mainly stabilized by association with soil minerals in the heavy and fine fractions. Moreover, the bacterial residues are relatively enriched at mineral surfaces compared to fungal residues. The (13) C tracing indicated a greater formation of fungal residues compared to bacterial residues after 4 years of experiment. In contradiction to our hypotheses, N deposition significantly increased the amount of new fungal residues in bulk soil and decreased the decomposition of old microbial residues associated with soil minerals. The preservation of old microbial residues could be due to decreased N limitation of microorganisms and therefore a reduced dependence on organic N sources. This mechanism might be especially important in fine heavy fractions with low C/N ratios, where microbial residues are effectively protected from decomposition by association with soil minerals.

Can we use the CO2 concentrations determined by continuous-flow isotope ratio mass spectrometry from small samples for the Keeling plot approach?

A common method to estimate the carbon isotopic composition of soil-respired air is to use Keeling plots (delta(13)C versus 1/CO2 concentration). This approach requires the precise determination of both CO2 concentration ([CO2]), usually measured with an infrared gas analyser (IRGA) in the field, and the analysis of delta(13)C by isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) in the laboratory. We measured [CO2] with an IRGA in the field (n = 637) and simultaneously collected air samples in 12 mL vials for analysis of the 13C values and the [CO2] using a continuous-flow isotope ratio mass spectrometer. In this study we tested if measurements by the IRGA and IRMS yielded the same results for [CO2], and also investigated the effects of different sample vial preparation methods on the [CO2] measurement and the thereby obtained Keeling plot results. Our results show that IRMS measurements of the [CO2] (during the isotope analysis) were lower than when the [CO2] was measured in the field with the IRGA. This is especially evident when the sample vials were not treated in the same way as the standard vials. From the three different vial preparation methods, the one using N2-filled and overpressurised vials resulted in the best agreement between the IRGA and IRMS [CO2] values. There was no effect on the (13)C-values from the different methods. The Keeling plot results confirmed that the overpressurised vials performed best. We conclude that in the cases where the ranges of [CO2] are large (>300 ppm; in our case it ranged between 70 and 1500 ppm) reliable estimation of the [CO2] with small samples using IRMS is possible for Keeling plot application. We also suggest some guidelines for sample handling in order to achieve proper results.

Reactivity of functional groups on the protein surface: development of epoxide probes for protein labeling.

We present the development of new affinity probes for protein labeling based on an epoxide reactive group. Systematic screening revealed that an epoxide functionality possesses the special combination of stability and reactivity which renders it stable toward proteins in solution but reactive on the protein surface outside the active site (proximity-induced reactivity). Highly efficient and selective labeling of purified HCA II (human carbonic anhydrase II) was achieved. For instance, 2 equiv of epoxide probe 9 was sufficient for nearly quantitative labeling of HCA II (>90% yield, 20 h reaction time). MS analysis of the labeled protein revealed that 1 equiv of the probe was attached and that labeling occurred at a single residue (His 64) outside the active site. Importantly, epoxide probe 9 selectively labeled HCA II both in simple protein mixtures and in cellular extracts. In addition to the chemical insight and its relevance to many epoxide-containing natural products, this study generated a promising lead in the development of new affinity probes for protein labeling.