Lignin is a major component of soil organic matter and also a rich source of carbon dioxide in soils. However, because of its complex structure and recalcitrant nature, lignin degradation is a major challenge. Efforts have been made from time to time to understand the lignin polymeric structure better and develop simpler, economical, and bio-friendly methods of degradation. Certain enzymes from specialized bacteria and fungi have been identified by researchers that can metabolize lignin and enable utilization of lignin-derived carbon sources. In this review, we attempt to provide an overview of the complexity of lignin’s polymeric structure, its distribution in forest soils, and its chemical nature. Herein, we focus on lignin biodegradation by various microorganism, fungi and bacteria present in plant biomass and soils that are capable of producing ligninolytic enzymes such as lignin peroxidase (LiP), manganese peroxidase (MnP), versatile peroxidase (VP), and dye-decolorizing peroxidase (DyP). The relevant and recent reports have been included in this review.

Soil moisture is of primary importance for predicting the evolution of soil carbon stocks and fluxes, both because it strongly controls organic matter decomposition and because it is predicted to change at global scales in the following decades. However, the soil functions used to model the heterotrophic respiration response to moisture have limited empirical support and introduce an uncertainty of at least 4% in global soil carbon stock predictions by 2100. The necessity of improving the representation of this relationship in models has been highlighted in recent studies. Here we present a data-driven analysis of soil moisture-respiration relations based on 90 soils. With the use of linear models we show how the relationship between soil heterotrophic respiration and different measures of soil moisture is consistently affected by soil properties. The empirical models derived include main effects and moisture interaction effects of soil texture, organic carbon content and bulk density. When compared to other functions currently used in different soil biogeochemical models, we observe that our results can correct biases and reconcile differences within and between such functions. Ultimately, accurate predictions of the response of soil carbon to future climate scenarios will require the integration of soil-dependent moisture-respiration functions coupled with realistic representations of soil water dynamics.

A majority of biochemical reactions are often catalysed by different types of enzymes. Adsorption of the enzyme is an imperative phenomenon, which protects it from physical or chemical degradation resulting in enzyme reserve in soil. This article summarizes some of the key results from previous studies and provides information about how enzymes are adsorbed on the surface of the soil solid phase and how different factors affect enzymatic activity in soil. Many studies have been done separately on the soil enzymatic activity and adsorption of enzymes on solid surfaces. However, only a few studies discuss enzyme adsorption on soil perspective; hence, we attempted to facilitate the process of enzyme adsorption specifically on soil surfaces. This review is remarkably unmatched, as we have thoroughly reviewed the relevant publications related to protein adsorption and enzymatic activity. Also, the article focuses on two important aspects, adsorption of enzymes and factors limiting the activity of adsorbed enzyme, together in one paper. The first part of this review comprehensively lays emphasis on different interactions between enzymes and the soil solid phase and the kinetics of enzyme adsorption. In the second part, we encircle various factors affecting the enzymatic activity of the adsorbed enzyme in soil.