Unique genes carried by abundant species enhance CH₄ emissions during the growing season at the Tibetan Plateau

Highlights

● CH₄ emission rates followed an increased pattern during the growing season at Tibetan Plateau.

● Unique genes carried by abundant species were positively correlated with CH₄ emission rates.

● Climate factors influenced CH₄ emission rates by regulating microbial community and their genes.

Abstract

Microorganisms play pivotal roles in soil methane (CH₄) emissions and their functional genes are origins of a key mechanism for soil CH₄-cycling. However, understanding of the roles of specific genes (e.g., unique or shared genes carried by species) underlying CH₄-cycling remains elusive. Here, we measured CH₄ emission rates and investigated variations in microbial community and the abundance of genes carried by species during the growing season in alpine meadow on the Tibetan Plateau. We discovered that CH₄ emission rates increased from 394.4, 745.9, and 1092.7 µg CH₄ m⁻² h⁻¹, in April, June, and August, respectively, and had a positive correlation with unique genes carried by abundant species during the growing season. Moreover, we found that unique genes carried by abundant species involved in methanogenesis processes have a higher abundance than methanotrophic processes. Further analysis indicated that climate factors (i.e., mean monthly temperature (MMT) and mean monthly precipitation (MMP)) influenced microbial community and their functional genes, and therefore affected the CH₄ emission rates. Overall, the present study provides a novel insight into the variation of soil CH₄ emissions from a functional gene perspective, highlighting the important roles of unique genes carried by abundant species in CH₄ emissions in the Tibetan Plateau under seasonal variation.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

soil CH₄ emissions / unique genes / abundant species / CH₄-cycling / growing season.

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Acknowledgment

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 42277284), the 2021 first funds for central government to guide local science and technology development in Qinghai Province (Grant No. 2021ZY002), and the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research Program (Grant Nos. 2019QZKK020102, 2019OZKK0302).

Conflict of Interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Author contributions

Yue Liang performed the data compilation and analysis. Liyuan He, Jieying Wang and Yue Liang conceived the project. Fazhu Zhao and Yue Liang interpreted the results. Liyuan He, Jieying Wang and Yue Liang wrote the manuscript with assistances of all other coauthors and Yanfang Liu was responsible for sampling. Fazhu Zhao and Wenying Wang sourced funding and administrated the project. Chengjie Ren, Jun Wang, Yaoxin Guo, and Ninglian Wang provided investigation and supervision.

Electronic supplementary material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s42832-023-0202-6 and is accessible for authorized users.

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