title: Soil and leaf litter metaproteomics-a brief guideline from sampling to understanding.
abstract: The increasing application of soil metaproteomics is providing unprecedented, in-depth characterization of the composition and functionality of in situ microbial communities. Despite recent advances in high-resolution mass spectrometry, soil metaproteomics still suffers from a lack of effective and reproducible protein extraction protocols and standardized data analyses. This review discusses the opportunities and limitations of selected techniques in soil-, and leaf litter metaproteomics, and presents a step-by-step guideline on their application, covering sampling, sample preparation, extraction and data evaluation strategies. In addition, we present recent applications of soil metaproteomics and discuss how such approaches, linking phylogenetics and functionality, can help gain deeper insights into terrestrial microbial ecology. Finally, we strongly recommend that to maximize the insights environmental metaproteomics may provide, such methods should be employed within a holistic experimental approach considering relevant aboveground and belowground ecosystem parameters.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Soil Research, Department of Forest and Soil Sciences, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna (BOKU), Peter Jordan-Strasse 82, 1190 Vienna, Austria katharina.keiblinger@boku.ac.at.
authors.forename: Katharina M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Keiblinger
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microbiology, University of Greifswald, Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahnstrasse 15, 17489 Greifswald, Germany.
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fuchs
authors.affiliation: Institute for Soil Research, Department of Forest and Soil Sciences, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna (BOKU), Peter Jordan-Strasse 82, 1190 Vienna, Austria.
authors.forename: Sophie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zechmeister-Boltenstern
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microbiology, University of Greifswald, Friedrich-Ludwig-Jahnstrasse 15, 17489 Greifswald, Germany.
authors.forename: Katharina
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Riedel
mesh_terms: D017753:Ecosystem; D004777:Environment; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D064307:Microbiota; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000382:microbiology*; D020543:Proteome / Q000032:analysis*; D040901:Proteomics / Q000379:methods*; D012987:Soil; D012988:Soil Microbiology
chemical_list: D020543:Proteome; D012987:Soil
keywords: bioinformatics, functional databases; environmental proteomics; meta-analysis; protein extraction, matrix effects