On August 5, 2024, Zhu Yongguan, academician of the Institute of Urban Environment of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Cui Li, a research team, published a paper entitled "Single cell exploration of active phosphate-solubilizing bacteria across diverse soil materials for sustainable phosphorus management" in the journal Nature Food (IF23.6). The first author of the paper is associate researcher Li Hongzhe. The article used single-cell Raman heavy water (Raman D₂O) labeling technology to identify and quantify native phosphorus solubilizing bacteria (PSB) in soil, and determined the main metabolic pathways of active PSB in soil through metagenomics and high-throughput sequencing. Among them, HOOKE PRECI SCS provides a fast and convenient separation tool for screening highly active soil phosphate solubilizing bacteria.

Abstract

Phosphate-solubilizing bacteria (PSB) are crucial for enhancing phosphorus bioavailability and regulating phosphorus transformation processes. However, the in situ phosphorus-solubilizing activity and the link between phenotypes and genotypes for PSB remain unidentified. Here we employed single-cell Raman spectroscopy combined with heavy water to discern and quantify soil active PSB. Our results reveal that PSB abundance and in situ activity differed significantly between soil types and fertilization treatments. Inorganic fertilizer input was the key driver for active PSB distribution. Targeted single-cell sorting and metagenomic sequencing of active PSB uncovered several low-abundance genera that are easily overlooked within bulk soil microbiota. We elucidate the underlying functional genes and metabolic pathway, and the interplay between phosphorus and carbon cycling involved in high phosphorus solubilization activity. Our study provides a single-cell approach to exploring PSB from native environments, enabling the development of a microbial solution for the efficient agronomic use of phosphorus and mitigating the phosphorus crisis.

The paper links：

https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-024-01024-8