Control of soil extracellular enzyme activities by clay minerals—perspectives on microbial responses

Abstract

Knowledge of how interactions of clay minerals and extracellular enzymes (EEs) influence organic matter turnover in soils are still under discussion. We studied the effect of different montmorillonite contents on EE activities, using two experiments—(1) an adsorption experiment with a commercially available enzyme (α-glucosidase) and (2) an incubation experiment (10 days) where microorganisms were stimulated to produce enzymes through organic carbon (OC) addition (starch and cellulose). Soil mixtures with different montmorillonite contents were created in four levels to a sandy soil: +0% (control), +0.1%, +1%, and +10%. The potential enzyme activity (pEA) of four enzymes, α-glucosidase, β-glucosidase, cellobiohydrolase, and aminopeptidase, involved in the soil carbon and nitrogen cycle were analysed. The adsorption experiment revealed a reduction in the catalytic activity of α-glucosidase by up to 76% with increasing montmorillonite contents. However, the incubation experiment showed an inhibitory effect on pEA only directly after the stimulation of in-situ EE production by OC addition. At later incubation stages, higher pEA was found in soils with higher montmorillonite contents. This mismatch between both experiments, with a transient reduction in catalytic activity for the incubation experiments, points to the continuous production of enzymes by soil microorganisms. It is conceivable that microbial adaptation is characterized by higher investment in EEs production induced by increasing clay contents and a stabilisation of the EEs by clay minerals. Our results point to the need to better understand EE-clay mineral-OC interactions regarding potential microbial adaptations and EE stabilisation with potentially prolonged activities.