Search this site
Embedded Files
Soil Evolution
  • Home
    • Start
      • Soil & Civilisation
      • Seeing Soil
      • Soil Science
      • New Science
      • Short story
    • What is Soil?
      • Clay
      • Soil Structure
      • Biome
      • Glomalisation
        • Testing
      • Soil Functions
        • Energy
          • Entropy
      • Decomposition
        • Mineralisation
        • De-lignification
        • Humification
      • Types
        • Europe
    • Challenge
      • Terrestrialisation
      • Theories so far
      • Tools
    • Darwin's version
    • Timeline
      • Copy of 100mya - 0 mya
      • Copy of 200-100 mya
      • Copy of 300-200 mya
      • Copy of 400-300 mya
      • Copy of 500-400 mya
  • 500-400 mya
    • No Soil
    • 4.500 - 1000 mya
    • 1000 - 500 mya
    • Periods
      • Cambrian
      • Ordovician
      • Silurian
    • Biology
      • Plants
      • Animals
      • Bacteria
  • 400-300 mya
    • 400-360 mya Late Devonian
      • Green cover
      • Vascular Plants
      • Mycorrhiza (AMF)
      • Animals
        • Springtails
        • Arachnids
    • 360-300mya Carboniferous
      • Plants
        • Vascular
      • Early Soils
        • Micro-aggregation
      • Animals - Early Carb
        • Oribatids - Lower
        • Origin of Insects
      • Animals - Late Carb
      • Worms
  • 300-200 mya
  • 200-100 mya
    • 200-145 mya Jurassic
    • 145-66 mya Cretaceous
  • 100mya - 0 mya
    • 66 - 0 mya Cenozoic
  • Now
    • Present State of Soil
      • Desertification
      • Concretisation
      • Globalisation
    • Practices affecting Soil
      • Chemical
        • Fertilisers
        • Carbon
        • Pesticides
      • Problem
      • Biological
    • Soil & Global Warming
      • Soil Surfaces & Global Warming
      • Soil Carbon
      • Soil & Water
      • Soil Temperature
      • Soil Biota
      • Climate Change
    • Save our Soil!
      • Soil Health
      • Regenerate
      • Ecology
      • Economics
Soil Evolution
  • Home
    • Start
      • Soil & Civilisation
      • Seeing Soil
      • Soil Science
      • New Science
      • Short story
    • What is Soil?
      • Clay
      • Soil Structure
      • Biome
      • Glomalisation
        • Testing
      • Soil Functions
        • Energy
          • Entropy
      • Decomposition
        • Mineralisation
        • De-lignification
        • Humification
      • Types
        • Europe
    • Challenge
      • Terrestrialisation
      • Theories so far
      • Tools
    • Darwin's version
    • Timeline
      • Copy of 100mya - 0 mya
      • Copy of 200-100 mya
      • Copy of 300-200 mya
      • Copy of 400-300 mya
      • Copy of 500-400 mya
  • 500-400 mya
    • No Soil
    • 4.500 - 1000 mya
    • 1000 - 500 mya
    • Periods
      • Cambrian
      • Ordovician
      • Silurian
    • Biology
      • Plants
      • Animals
      • Bacteria
  • 400-300 mya
    • 400-360 mya Late Devonian
      • Green cover
      • Vascular Plants
      • Mycorrhiza (AMF)
      • Animals
        • Springtails
        • Arachnids
    • 360-300mya Carboniferous
      • Plants
        • Vascular
      • Early Soils
        • Micro-aggregation
      • Animals - Early Carb
        • Oribatids - Lower
        • Origin of Insects
      • Animals - Late Carb
      • Worms
  • 300-200 mya
  • 200-100 mya
    • 200-145 mya Jurassic
    • 145-66 mya Cretaceous
  • 100mya - 0 mya
    • 66 - 0 mya Cenozoic
  • Now
    • Present State of Soil
      • Desertification
      • Concretisation
      • Globalisation
    • Practices affecting Soil
      • Chemical
        • Fertilisers
        • Carbon
        • Pesticides
      • Problem
      • Biological
    • Soil & Global Warming
      • Soil Surfaces & Global Warming
      • Soil Carbon
      • Soil & Water
      • Soil Temperature
      • Soil Biota
      • Climate Change
    • Save our Soil!
      • Soil Health
      • Regenerate
      • Ecology
      • Economics
  • More
    • Home
      • Start
        • Soil & Civilisation
        • Seeing Soil
        • Soil Science
        • New Science
        • Short story
      • What is Soil?
        • Clay
        • Soil Structure
        • Biome
        • Glomalisation
          • Testing
        • Soil Functions
          • Energy
            • Entropy
        • Decomposition
          • Mineralisation
          • De-lignification
          • Humification
        • Types
          • Europe
      • Challenge
        • Terrestrialisation
        • Theories so far
        • Tools
      • Darwin's version
      • Timeline
        • Copy of 100mya - 0 mya
        • Copy of 200-100 mya
        • Copy of 300-200 mya
        • Copy of 400-300 mya
        • Copy of 500-400 mya
    • 500-400 mya
      • No Soil
      • 4.500 - 1000 mya
      • 1000 - 500 mya
      • Periods
        • Cambrian
        • Ordovician
        • Silurian
      • Biology
        • Plants
        • Animals
        • Bacteria
    • 400-300 mya
      • 400-360 mya Late Devonian
        • Green cover
        • Vascular Plants
        • Mycorrhiza (AMF)
        • Animals
          • Springtails
          • Arachnids
      • 360-300mya Carboniferous
        • Plants
          • Vascular
        • Early Soils
          • Micro-aggregation
        • Animals - Early Carb
          • Oribatids - Lower
          • Origin of Insects
        • Animals - Late Carb
        • Worms
    • 300-200 mya
    • 200-100 mya
      • 200-145 mya Jurassic
      • 145-66 mya Cretaceous
    • 100mya - 0 mya
      • 66 - 0 mya Cenozoic
    • Now
      • Present State of Soil
        • Desertification
        • Concretisation
        • Globalisation
      • Practices affecting Soil
        • Chemical
          • Fertilisers
          • Carbon
          • Pesticides
        • Problem
        • Biological
      • Soil & Global Warming
        • Soil Surfaces & Global Warming
        • Soil Carbon
        • Soil & Water
        • Soil Temperature
        • Soil Biota
        • Climate Change
      • Save our Soil!
        • Soil Health
        • Regenerate
        • Ecology
        • Economics

Glomalisation

Testing my hypothesis   What is soil?

Springtails     Mycorrhiza   Primary aggregation   

Soil Structure Functions  Decomposition Clay Biome Energy Entropy 


Hypothesis

I have created the term 'GLOMALISATION' to describe:
'The digestive process, that occurs in springtails and other small soil arthropods, to turn Glomalin - a 'highly recalcitrant glycoprotein' produced by AMFungi -  into easily extracted (EE) Glomalin Related Soil Proteins or (GRSP) which become part of their frass, a 'necroglue'.

Glomalin globules on fungi
Springtail strong gut
GRSPs * with hyphae making aggregates.

This revelation to me started over 50 years ago when I was working at East Malling Fruit Research Station. There in their 'root labs' (now rebranded as 'Rhizotron'), as a student I noticed loads of little white springtails nibbling along the roots of fruit trees. While everybody else was measuring root lengths, I wondered what these creatures were doing; but it has taken me this long to work out. They were nibbling dead root matter and fungi growing on them.

When reading all this, don't forget the group of characters, roots, fungi, bacteria and springtails have all been around for 400 my. There is widespread density of springtails across the world found  - as 'living fossils'. From mountains to seashore , there are densities like to 10,000 to 100,000 per square metre. What else are they doing other than a lot of chewing, mainly of fungi, and pooing it out?

Glomalin discovery

Sara Wright discovered glomalin in 1996  
The name comes from Glomerales, an order of fungi. Most AM fungi are of the division Glomeromycota  

GRSPs are smaller units of protein and carbohydrates, like sugars, that feed much of the soil metabolism, as well as help stick soil particles together to improve aggregation, and hence soil health.  It explains why - in regenerative circles- AMF is the 'Secret Soil Powerhouse'

"Twenty-five years of research has shown a clear benefit, both to soil resilience and plant growth, of a yet poorly defined substance associated with fungal necromass." (Irving et al 2021) 

More on GRSPs & primary aggregation

My proposal could have an enormous impact on this research as it is a revelation of how to get from glomalin to GRSPs, and not even ChatGPT can answer that. Time and again I read research papers, where glomalin and GRSPs are clearly different, but nobody says how or why, but instead conflate the two as if they are the same. They are not.

To me it is screaming out that something changes glomalin to GRSPs, and I believe it is springtails as they are so dominant in this area and explains the 100k of springtails per m2. But many won't have thought about the role of springtails previously.

Glomalin accounts for 27 percent of the carbon in soil, and is exuded by mycorrhizal fungi.

"GRSP is one of the most significant multidisciplinary topics between fungal physiology and soil biochemistry. "  (Gao et al 2019)

"The study regarding the GRSP in the C field could be divided into the initial stage (1999–2009), the steady stage (2010–2018), and the explosive stage (2019–2022). The Chinese Academy of Sciences is the organization with the most publications, and the United States, China, and India are the three leading nations in the C field of GRSP. However, there was little collaboration among the participating countries and the study’s institutions. " (Deng et al 2023)

'Glomalisation' reminds us that the soil is not just about decomposition, which many believe. It is about growing the plants - which came before decomposition of course.  And growing the soil! 

Glomalisation releases the energy  trapped from the sun and turned into sugars, transported to the roots where fungi make into glomalin. Breaking that down passes that energy through small arthropods to drive soil metabolism and build soil structures to support the plants growth.

In, On Out

My proposal is that springtails eat a lot of glomalin, digest it and poo out GRSPs, thereby contributing to improving soil health. A lot of work needs to be done to prove this, and most that relates with this is likely to from India and China (Deng et al 2023) .  What are the enzymes and bacteria in springtail guts? We saw how springtails follow geosmin emitted by Streptomyces. Did/do they carry Streptomyces in their guts  and thus help break down the glomalin?  

'hot research topics'

 "The highest EE(Easily extractable) GRSP protein was under treatment receiving of paddy straw with Aspergillus spp. + Bacillus spp. + Streptomyces spp."

Research Gaps

(Deng et al 2023)  identify the following research gaps that need to be addressed:

  • The underlying mechanism and influencing factors of how GRSP stabilize and sequestrate C remain unclear, dependent on deep collaboration between countries and institutions.

  • There is the lack of quantitative research revealing the role of GRSP in alleviating greenhouse effects.

  • How to effectively use both GRSP and AMF to improve soil structure and increase crop yield.

  • How to purify GRSP is crucial for understanding its structure and function (especially the role of C field). Accurate quantification of GRSP will be of great help to evaluate the contribution of GRSP to C sequestration.

  • Plants, soils, environmental conditions, and AMF should be brought together to explore how to effectively increase GRSP concentrations and study it in the C field

  • (Irving et al 2021) suggest an area of study would be "The addition of AMF necromass compared with necromass from ectomycorrhizal fungi, saprotrophic fungi or bacteria would show if the Glomeromycotina are uniquely beneficial for soil, or if ‘glomalin’ might better be described as a generalised ‘necroglue’ " 

 
I would like to add 

>Explanation of how glomalin produced by AMF become GRSPs that stick the soil together in the process of glomalisation.

>Clarification of how the chemical nature of glomalin is affected by the digestive system in small soil animals which makes other chemicals, whose structure is simpler, but needs to be analysed to see how these aid 'stickiness'.

GRSPs with clay minerals could reduce the availability of PAHs (Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons) to cause harm, which could lead to innovative soil remediation strategies that involve boosting mycorrhizal fungi and GRSP production to enhance soil's natural capacity to deal with PAH contamination. 

This is what I'm working on.

IN..   how much glomalin is there to be digested

ON..   What are the bacteria and enzymes that are breaking glomalin down? While several looking at bacteria in springtails, tend to be looking for decomposition. My tip is Streptomyces, as they follow their spores, which they would eat. But there will be others, as such a food source..

OUT...  What is the nature of GRSPs? more chemistry and how they relate with soil 1. Metabolism 2 Aggregation

Term

By inventing a term, there is more chance of it being recognised. Note 'the 's' rather a 'z', to indicate British origin.

From the word glomalin, itself from Glomeromyces fungi, whose name comes from the term ‘glomeruli’ referring to the arbuscules. (check)

It also sounds like globalisation with massive implications, but can  'glomalisation' do more for the world?

Glomalisation echoes the words mineralsation  and humification and de-lignification, other major soil processes. The former - releasing minerals from organic matter, may be involved in this glomalisation process. 

History of the development in glomalin terminology 

1996 Wright et al Finding the special protein from arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF), and further naming it as glomalin 

1998 Wright et al Using different citric acid buffers to extract the glomalin from the soil and dividing them into easily extractable glomalin (EEG) and total glomalin (TG), and the part of the immune response that can be associated with MAb 32B11 is called IREEG and IRTG, respectively 

2004 Rillig Glomalin-related soil protein (GRSPs) are used to replace glomalin term, and using BRSP (Bradford-reactive soil protein), IRSP (immunoreactive soil protein), EE-BRSP (easily extractable BRSP) and EE-IRSP (easily extracted immunoreactive soil protein) to replace the corresponding glomalin terminology before
2008 Rosier Bradford-root protein, a root-originated glomalin 
2013 Koide & People GRSPs are divided into the fraction 1 (easily extracted) and the fraction 2 (difficult extracted)
2014 Wu et al.
Named the fraction 2 as difficulty extractable glomalin-related soil protein (DE-GRSP), based on Koide and People (2013)
2016 Wu et al Defined Bradford-root protein as glomalin-related root protein" (Gao et al 2019)

Glomalin

Glomalin

Generally, purified glomalin typically contains the following elements: carbon (C), hydrogen (H), oxygen (O), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), copper (Cu), & iron (Fe). 

"Glomalin that  is a kind of glycoprotein produced by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi in the phylum Glomeromycota, has some characteristics of hydrophobins with insolubility and difficulty in its extraction. The protein is highly homologous with heat shock protein 60". (Gao et al 2019)

ME: Glomalin is hard to identify    ME: Where are the chemical structures for all this?

GRSPs

They are often referred to as 'easily extractable' as opposed to glomalin which is 'recalcitrant'

Numerous studies into the structure, distribution, and function of GRSP have been carried out since they were first named. Structurally, the mass spectrometry analysis revealed that GRSP are an N-chain glycoprotein with part of amino acid sequence showing the homology to heat shock protein 60 (Hsp60) sequence. It is evident from a substantial body of literature that GRSP contain 2–4% N, 35–40% C, 4–6% H, 33–49% O, 0.8–8.8% Fe, 1.2–2.7% K, 0.3–0.7% Ca, 0.03–0.3% P, 3.0–9.7% Si, 2.8–3.4% Na, 0.3–0.5% Mg, 1.3–4.8% Al, 0.035–0.153% Mo, 0.011–0.018% Zn, 0.014–0.025% Cu, and 0.020–0.037% Mn [Refs]. 

GRSP, though still operationally defined, has been examined by using proteomic and spectroscopy techniques to analyse the GRSP fraction composition and functional groups (Gillespie et al., 2011, Wang et al., 2020), revealing that GRSP is a complex high molecular weight mixture containing iron (Fe) (Chern et al., 2007, Gadkar and Rillig, 2006, Rillig et al., 200

ME: GRSPs are easily extractable (EE) and are sometimes called EEGRSPs

Glomalin also contains additional non-glomalin components, hence Rillig [8] proposed that the term “glomalin-related soil proteins” (GRSP) should be used in its place. Since then structures Glomalin & GRSPs are usually conflated but they are very different 

ME: What are these 'non-glomalin components? Perhaps dead bacteria, enzymes and mucous - picked up from springtail guts?

Dear Deepseek

What are the relations between glomalin, a compound making up 1/4 of all carbon in the soil, and glomalin-related-soil-proteins (GRSPs)?

Glomalin and glomalin-related soil proteins (GRSPs) are closely related compounds that play a significant role in soil carbon storage and soil structure. Here's a breakdown of their relationship:

  1. Glomalin:
    Glomalin is a glycoprotein produced by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in the soil. It was first identified in the 1990s and is known for its durability and resistance to degradation. Glomalin contributes significantly to soil organic carbon, with estimates suggesting it makes up about 1/4 of all carbon in the soil. It also helps stabilize soil aggregates, improving soil structure and water retention.

  2. Glomalin-Related Soil Proteins (GRSPs):
    GRSPs are a broader category of proteins that include glomalin and other similar compounds extracted from soil. These proteins are operationally defined based on the extraction methods used to isolate them (e.g., using citrate buffer at high temperatures). GRSPs are not solely glomalin but are a mixture of proteins, including glomalin and other substances that co-extract with it.

  3. Relationship:

    • Glomalin is a specific component of GRSPs.

    • GRSPs represent the pool of soil proteins that are extracted and measured in laboratory analyses, which may include glomalin as well as other proteins and organic materials.

    • The term "GRSP" is often used interchangeably with glomalin in research, but it is important to note that GRSPs are not chemically pure glomalin.

  4. Function:
    Both glomalin and GRSPs contribute to soil health by:

    • Enhancing soil aggregation, which improves soil structure and reduces erosion.

    • Acting as a long-term carbon sink, helping to sequester carbon in the soil.

    • Supporting the symbiotic relationship between AMF and plant roots, which enhances nutrient uptake by plants.

In summary, glomalin is a specific protein within the broader category of GRSPs, and both are critical for soil carbon storage and soil health. The distinction lies in the fact that GRSPs include glomalin as well as other related proteins and compounds.


Testing my Hypothesis

"AMF predominates in well studied agricultural systems". (Irving et al 2021) . It does seem that AMF - rather than ectomycorrhiza - produce glomalin The authors propose (in Research Gap above) that ere should be more testing to find out whether glomalin is just associated with AMF. It makes sense - Glomus and all that. 

AMF, glomalin & Glomus

"Work on glomalin-related soil protein produced by arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi (AMF) has been limited because of the unknown identity of the protein. A protein band cross-reactive with the glomalin-specific antibody MAb32B11 from the AM fungus Glomus intraradices was partially sequenced using tandem liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. A 17 amino acid sequence showing similarity to heat shock protein 60 (hsp 60) was obtained. Based on degenerate PCR, a full-length cDNA of 1773 bp length encoding the hsp 60 gene was isolated from a G. intraradices cDNA library. The ORF was predicted to encode a protein of 590 amino acids. The protein sequence had three N-terminal glycosylation sites and a string of GGM motifs at the C-terminal end. The GiHsp 60 ORF had three introns of 67, 76 and 131 bp length. The GiHsp 60 was expressed using an in vitro translation system, and the protein was purified using the 6xHis-tag system. A dot-blot assay on the purified protein showed that it was highly cross-reactive with the glomalin-specific antibody MAb32B11. The present work provides the first evidence for the identity of the glomalin protein in the model AMF G. intraradices, thus facilitating further characterization of this protein, which is of great interest in soil ecology". Gadkar & Rilligl 2006

More on '

ME: The more I think about 'glomalisation' the more significant it could be, esp  in the Regen arena and India & Chinese research, Also, the soil is often considered a decompositional substrate, whereas it is also is growing one- there would be nothing to decompose without growth. Humification was always seen as dominant process, whereas having a distinct glomalisation (nothing to do with decomposition) means that duality made clearer.

Springtails

Mycorrhiza

Primary aggregation

This site is set up by Dr Charlie Clutterbuck
Google Sites
Report abuse
Page details
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse