Recently, the research group of Professor Guo Weihua from School of Life Sciences deeply explored the effect of adding nitrogen-rich substrates on the community structure of thermophilic microorganisms during the composting of common reed, revealed the assembly process of thermophilic microbial community, and provided novel insights into the co-occurrence network among microorganisms. Therelated paper entitled "Insight into the effect of nitrogen-rich substrates on the community structure and the co-occurrence network of thermophiles during lignocellulose-based composting" has beenpublishedonthe top journal Bioresource Technology (IF: 7.539).The first author is Zhu Pengcheng ,while Prof.Guo is the corresponding author.

As an economical and environmentally friendly technology, composting is widely used in the treatment of agricultural and industrial organic waste.Thermophilic microorganisms are the main participants in the composting process, and the succession of their communities is closely related to the dynamic changes of organic matter during the composting process.Previous studies focused on the effects of changes in physical and chemical properties during the composting process, but few on the impact of biological interactions (feeding, competition, and mutual symbiosis) on the microbial community.

The research showed that the raw materials and the composting process significantly changed the community composition of bacterial community,fungal community and the co-occurrence of thermophilic microorganisms by altering nutritional environments. Meanwhile, thermophilic microorganisms mainly promotedthe conversion of substances through beneficialinteractions.Moreover,theinter-kingdomcompetitionwasmore intense thanthe intra-kingdom competition.Rare species play a key role in maintaining the microbial network structure.These findings expand our understanding of the succession and interaction of thermophilic microbial communities during composting.

This work was fund bythe National Key Research and Development Program of China(Ecological restoration and industrialization technology of typical estuary wetland in the north).

The publication link:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960852420313857?via%3Dihub

Written by：Zhu Pengcheng

Edited by：Che Huiqing