Soil invertebrate genomics and metagenomics

There is a tremendous diversity of invertebrates right under our feet: a single m2 soil in Germany might contain hundreds of species. Much of this diversity is unknown: it is estimated that for every known species there are about 20 that are still undescribed. These invertebrates are important contributors of ecosystem services essential for humanity, such as disease control, nutrient cycling, soil formation, or even primary production.

There are serious concerns that this diversity is rapidly lost. Since soil biodiversity loss likely impacts soil ecosystem services, there is demand from national and European authorities to understand and monitor soil biodiversity. However, extensive soil biodiversity monitoring is not yet feasible given the lack of methods that might allow to describe invertebrate community composition, biomass and functions diversity on a massive scale (Fig. 1). In MetaInvert we are developing the necessary genomic resources, laboratory and bioinformatic tools for a metagenomics-based monitoring of soil invertebrate communities. We also aim to start the standardisation process of the relevant approaches through ISO.

Our main focus is on developing and testing methods to describe the structure and function of soil invertebrate communities, together with the Soil Zoology Division of Senckenberg Görlitz. The project “Metagenomic monitoring of soil communities (MetaInvert)” is part of the LOEWE Centre for Translational Biodiversity Genomics, and it is led by Miki Bálint, Ricarda Lehmitz and Peter Decker. The project is funded through the programme “LOEWE – Landes-Offensive zur Entwicklung Wissenschaftlich-ökonomischer Exzellenz” of Hesse’s Ministry of Higher Education, Research, and the Arts. We genome-sequenced over 250 species of soil invertebrates under the lead of Clem Schneider. The aim of this database is to improve species identifications through shotgun metagenomics.