Influence of elevated ozone concentration on methanotrophic bacterial communities in soil under field condition

• O3 stress can influence the potential methane oxidation rate (PMOR).
• O3 influenced the potential methane production rate (PMPR) in soil.
• O3 and the soil depth affected the gene pmoA of total methanotrophic bacteria.
• O3 and the soil depth affected the type I and type II methanotrophic bacteria.
• O3 influenced the community structure of the methanotrophic bacteria in soil.

The open top chamber (OTC) method was used in combination with real-time quantitative PCR and terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) techniques in the wheat field to study the influence of different levels of O3 concentrations (ambient air filtered by activated carbons, 40 ppb, 80 ppb and 120 ppb) on the quantity and community structure of methanotrophic bacteria. O3 stress can influence the potential methane oxidation rate (PMOR) and potential methane production rate (PMPR) in the farmland soil. O3 treatment of 40 ppb improved significantly the 16S rRNA gene copy number in the total methanotrophic bacteria pmoA, and type I and type II methanotrophic bacteria in the soil depth of 0–20 cm. When the O3 concentration reached 120 ppb, the 16S rRNA gene copy number in the total methanotrophic bacteria pmoA and type I methanotrophic bacteria decreased significantly as compared to the control treatment in 10–20 cm layer. The 16s rRNA gene copy number of total methanotrophic bacteria pmoA and type I and type II methanotrophic bacteria were influenced by different O3 concentration and soil depth. The T-RFLP analysis indicated that O3 stress influenced significantly the community structure of the methanotrophic bacteria in soil, causing potential threat to the diversity of methanotrophic bacteria. It seems to imply that the rise of O3 concentration could produce an impact on the carbon cycling and the methane emission of the wheat field soil by changing the community structure and diversity of methanotrophic bacteria, which then influences the global climate change.