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The biodegradability of nucleic acid bases adsorbed on inorganic and organic soil components

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Summary

The biodegradability of nucleic acid bases (guanine, adenine, cytosine, thymine and uracil) adsorbed on montmorillonite, illite, kaolinite, soil, gibbsite, goethite and a fulvic acid (FA)-montmorillonite complex was investigated. Each material was mixed with sand, inoculated with a soil suspension and incubated in a Warburg vessel.

Lag periods in O2 uptake were observed at pH 4 and 6 but not at pH 8. Following the lag periods, adsorbed nucleic acid bases were degraded rapidly at linear rates until these levelled off. The cessation of O2-uptake was shown to be due to the formation of excessive amounts of gaseous NH3, which not only inhibited microbial respiration by raising the pH to 8 and higher, but also by killing bacteria and actinomycetes. The rate of biodegradation was found to depend on the type of clay or oxide, the dominant cation and the pH.

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Ivarson, K.C., Schnitzer, M. & Cortez, J. The biodegradability of nucleic acid bases adsorbed on inorganic and organic soil components. Plant Soil 64, 343–353 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02372517

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02372517

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