近期发表在Nature Microbiology上的一篇文章“The importance of anabolism in microbial control over soil carbon storage”，向大家再次展示了阴阳图在说明科学问题时的作用。

论文链接：https://www.nature.com/articles/nmicrobiol2017105

论文摘要：

Studies of the decomposition, transformation and stabilization of soil organic matter (SOM) have dramatically increased in recent years owing to growing interest in studying the global carbon (C) cycle as it pertains to climate change. While it is readily accepted that the magnitude of the organic C reservoir in soils depends upon microbial involvement, as soil C dynamics are ultimately the consequence of microbial growth and activity, it remains largely unknown how these microorganism-mediated processes lead to soil C stabilization. Here, we define two pathways—ex vivo modification and in vivo turnover—which jointly explain soil C dynamics driven by microbial catabolism and/or anabolism. Accordingly, we use the conceptual framework of the soil ‘microbial carbon pump’ (MCP) to demonstrate how microorganisms are an active player in soil C storage. The MCP couples microbial production of a set of organic compounds to their further stabilization, which we define as the entombing effect. This integration captures the cumulative long-term legacy of microbial assimilation on SOM formation, with mechanisms (whether via physical protection or a lack of activation energy due to chemical composition) that ultimately enable the entombment of microbial-derived C insoils. We propose a need for increased efforts and seek to inspire new studies that utilize the soil MCP as a conceptual guideline for improving mechanistic understandings of the contributions of soil C dynamics to the responses of the terrestrial C cycle under global change.

Nature的每个子刊貌似都会选择一个主题色，发现Nature Microbiology的紫色非常漂亮。当然，我所喜欢的植物学期刊 — Nature Plants的绿色也是超级漂亮！