Distribution and Variation of Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) and Protein and Its Hydrolysis Products in Lake Sediments

Protein and RNA in lake sediments tend to be decomposed progressively with time and sedimentation depth. Their concentrations tend to decrease starting from the sedimentation depth of 17 cm and that of 19 cm, respectively. However, the products of their decomposition-amino acids and nucleotides show different rules of variation. At the depth from 27 cm to 30 cm the amino acids are most abundant in the pore waters of lake sediments. Such variation tendency seems to be related to the extent to which microbes utilize amino acids and nucleotides. Due to polymerization in the geological processes and the adsorption of protein on minerals and organic polymers, below the sedimentation depth of 17 cm there is still a certain amount of protein in the sediments. With the time passing by, protein has been well preserved in various sediment layers, indicating that its decomposition is relatively limited. The peak values of protein content in the sediments of the two lakes are produced in the surface layers at the depth of 10 cm, implicating that the surface sediments are favorable to the release of protein. The contents of amino acids in the pore waters of lake sediments are closely related to the activities of microbes. Below the depth of 27 cm, the amino acids are significantly accumulated in Lake Aha sediments, probably indicating the weakening of microbial activities.