Although Epichloë endophytes are present only in aboveground tissues of grasses they indirectly influence soil biological characteristics through increased litter incorporation and root exudation. Epichloë endophytes have been reported to affect the decomposition rates of litter by altering litter quality and microbial decomposers to affect soil characteristics. However, it is not well-studied that underlying effects on functional genes involved in nitrification and denitrification after incorporation of litter containing Epichloë endophytes into soil. We collected soil samples at S₀ (first litter incorporation), S₁ (second litter incorporation), S₂ (third litter incorporation) and S₃ (120 days after the third litter incorporation) times after incorporation of litter that was either infected with the fungal endophyte Epichloë festucae var. Lolii or free of Epichloë endophyte, respectively. . We sampled the soil fororganic carbon (OC), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), ammonium nitrogen (NH₄⁺-N: AN), nitrate nitrogen (NO₃⁻-N: NN), soil microbial biomass carbon (MBC), nitrogen (MBN), ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB-amoA) and ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA-amoA) functional genes for nitrification, nitrite reduction (nirS and nirK) and nitrous oxide reduction (nosZ) functional genes for denitrification. We found that Epichloë-infected plant increased the soil properties (OC, TN, AN, NN) and microbial biomass C in S₁ to S₃ times, and microbial biomass N in S₂ and S₃ times, but reduced soil pH in S₁ times and the C_N ratio in S₂ and S₃ times by litter incorporation. The absolute abundance of the AOB-amoA functional gene at S₁ and S₃ times and relative abundances of Planctomycetes, Methylobacterium, Nitosomonas, Gemmata, Geodermatophilus and Sinorhizobium in the nirK functional gene community were significantly higher in soil with Epichloë-infected litter compared to soil with Epichloë-free litter at S₁ and S₃ times. While the absolute abundance at S₁ and S₃ times and diversity at S₃ times of the nirK functional gene, and the absolute abundance at S₁ to S₃ times and diversity at S₁ times of the nosZ functional gene, and relative abundance of Proteobacteria in the AOB-amoA functional gene were significantly lower in soil with litter containing Epichloë endophyte than that of soil with litter without the endophyte. The soil moisture, and the contents of TP, OC, AN and MBN were the best explanatory variables for the altered microbial community. Our results provide a new understanding of the responses of soil nitrification and denitrification genes through incorporation of litter containing Epichloë endophytes into soil.

尽管Epichloë内生菌仅存在于草的地上组织中，但它们通过增加凋落物的吸收和根系分泌而间接影响土壤生物学特性。据报道，表皮内生菌通过改变垃圾质量和影响土壤特性的微生物分解物来影响垃圾的分解速率。然而，尚未深入研究将含有内生真菌的凋落物掺入土壤后，对涉及硝化和反硝化作用的功能基因的潜在影响。我们在S ₀（第一窝垃圾），S ₁（第二窝垃圾），S ₂收集土壤样品（第三窝产仔）和掺入被真菌内生真菌Epichloëfestucae var感染的窝产仔后S ₃（第三窝产仔后120天）的时间。Lolii或免费的稻香内生菌，分别。。我们对土壤中的有机碳（OC），总氮（TN），总磷（TP），铵态氮（NH ₄ ⁺ -N：AN），硝态氮（NO ₃ ^-- N：NN），土壤微生物量碳进行了采样（MBC），氮（MBN），氨氧化细菌（AOB- amoA）和氨氧化古细菌（AOA- amoA）的功能基因，用于硝化，亚硝酸盐还原（nirS和nirK）和一氧化二氮还原（nosZ）功能基因进行反硝化。我们发现，受Epichloë感染的植物使S ₁至S ₃的土壤特性（OC，TN，AN，NN）和微生物生物量碳增加，并使S ₂和S _3的微生物生物量N增加，但降低S中的土壤pH S ₂和S _3中的C_N比为₁倍，并通过垫料掺入。S ₁和S ₃处AOB- amoA功能基因的绝对丰度在感染了埃奇克罗的垫料的土壤中，nirK功能基因群落中的菌丝体，甲基杆菌属，尼松单胞菌，芽孢杆菌，嗜地皮芽孢杆菌和中华根瘤菌的倍数和相对丰度分别比不带有埃奇克罗的垫料的土壤高₁倍和₃倍。而绝对丰度处为₁和S ₃倍和多样性处为₃所述的次nirK功能基因，并且绝对丰度处为₁至S ₃次，并在分集小号₁所述的次nosZ功能性基因，并在AOB-变形菌门的相对丰度AMOA功能性基因在土壤与含有垫料均显著下稻香内生真菌比土壤与没有内生菌垫料。土壤水分，TP，OC，AN和MBN含量是改变微生物群落的最佳解释变量。我们的结果通过向土壤中掺入含有Epichloë内生菌的凋落物，对土壤硝化和反硝化基因的响应有了新的认识。