Glomalin, a newly discovered component of soil organic matter: Part II- Relationship with soil properties

M. J. Haddad, D. Sarkar

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

18 Scopus citations

Abstract

Soil organic matter (SOM) is one of the most important components of soil when evaluating soil structure and its impact upon the environment. The discovery of a unique glycoprotein, glomalin, in 1996 challenged what was known about the composition of SOM. In an effort to better understand the presence of glomalin in SOM, the current research focused on glomalin concentrations in soils as it relates to the key soil properties, such as pH, clay (%), total C (%), C/N ratio, organic C/N ratio, inorganic C (%), and soil organic matter (%). Twenty soils collected from undisturbed range-lands throughout the United States, representing a wide range of the aforementioned soil properties, were analyzed for easily extractable glomalin (G1) and for total glomahn (G2). The G1 and G2 extracts were analyzed for protein content using the Bradford assay, and their respective immunoreactive fractions (IR-G1 and IR-G2) were determined using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Statistical correlations indicated that pH, total C, and SOM were the best predictors of glomalin in soils (R2 values of 0.43, 0.42, and 0.46, respectively). Inorganic carbon and C/N ratio were determined to be the best predictors of the immunoreactive fractions of soil glomalin (R2 values of 0.63 and 0.55, respectively). Multiple regression analysis revealed that 75% of variation in the G2 fraction and 73% of variation in the IR-G2 fraction could be explained by the collective soil properties. Overall, the results indicate that G1 and IR-G1 measurements may be ambiguous and that G2 and IR-G2 are the most accurate representation of total glomalin and immunoreactive glomalin in soils.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)99-106
Number of pages8
JournalEnvironmental Geosciences
Volume10
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - 2003

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