Advanced “Omics” Technologies Prove That Soil is More Than Just Dirt
By: Mary Sims
What’s so special about soil? You probably know that it contains minerals, is the preferred habitat for worms, sustains your garden, and sticks to the bottom of your shoes. That’s all there really is to it, right?
Nope. It’s easy to simplify soil as the dirt on which we walk, but in reality, it’s a living and breathing system of biological organisms. In fact, a single teaspoon of soil can contain up to billions of microorganisms.
Now consider the fact that every organism has its own collections of genes, mRNA transcripts, and proteins. The interactions between these biomolecules are complex. Just as we cannot tweak the expression of one magical gene and cure obesity, we cannot introduce a single microbe into a soil system and dramatically improve crop yield. The systems are too complex to efficiently be analyzed gene-by-gene; they must be analyzed as a whole. This is where the “–ome” and “–omics” suffixes come into play.
“Omics” includes metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, and metaproteomics, which are fields that explore the complex interactions that take place between biomolecules within soil microbial systems. Unraveling the diversity amongst these smaller molecules within a soil sample captures a more precise measurement of biodiversity, a factor directly linked to soil fertility and crop yield. The idea of improving crop yield by improving soil diversity knowledge is becoming increasingly impactful as the world population approaches an estimated 9.6 billion people by 2050.
Progressing into its second “Golden Age”, the field of soil microbiology is becoming increasingly rich with “omics” technologies that enhance the understanding of diverse microbial communities within soil; however, these new processes might not be better than those that preceded them.
In the past, two classical procedures dominated soil microbial research. Biomass and nitrification quantification indirectly measure microbial activity by monitoring nutrient fluxes and nitrogen gas levels over time. Though these techniques were advantageous to previous soil microbial research experiments, they stripped nutrients from soil and failed to generate precise measurements of biodiversity.
Despite their comprehensive qualities, “omics” technologies also have some pitfalls. They permit the comprehensive collection of genes, transcripts, and proteins, but they pose a problem. Even if a dataset could be created with an adequate quality and quantity of soil microbe biomolecule data, it might take terabytes of data to determine and hold information about the entire soil systems of genes, mRNA transcripts, and proteins. Other pitfalls include those dealing with complicated and lengthy experimental procedures, expensive machinery, naturally occurring microbial “hotspots,” and exogenous variables for which modern statistical methods cannot account.
What does all of this mean? Soil microbial research conducted with “omics” technologies is not a simple process; however, it is the most effective way to analyze the diversity within soil and provide further insight into the interactions that regulate crop production.
Assuming that their challenges can be overcome, developing “omics” technologies is the logical next step for soil science research. This will not be an easy process, but as stated by two wise men, Ben Parker and Voltaire, “With great power comes great responsibility.”
Works Cited:
Myrold, David D., and Paolo Nannipieri. “Classical Techniques Versus Omits Approaches.” Omics In Soil Science. Ed. Paolo Nannipieri and Giacomo Pietramellara. Norfolk, UK: Caister Academic, 2014. Print.