Phosphate supply explains variation in nucleic acid allocation but not C: P stoichiometry in the western North Atlantic
Marine microbial communities mediate many biogeochemical transformations in the ocean. Consequently, processes such as primary production and carbon (C) export are linked to nutrient regeneration and are influenced by the resource demand and elemental composition of marine microbial biomass. Laborat...
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ftcdlib:qt8mw6x3gp 2023-05-15T17:32:08+02:00 Phosphate supply explains variation in nucleic acid allocation but not C: P stoichiometry in the western North Atlantic Zimmerman, AE Martiny, AC Lomas, MW Allison, SD 1599 - 1611 2014-03-26 application/pdf http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/8mw6x3gp english eng eScholarship, University of California qt8mw6x3gp http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/8mw6x3gp Attribution (CC BY): http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ CC-BY Zimmerman, AE; Martiny, AC; Lomas, MW; & Allison, SD. (2014). Phosphate supply explains variation in nucleic acid allocation but not C: P stoichiometry in the western North Atlantic. Biogeosciences, 11(6), 1599 - 1611. doi:10.5194/bg-11-1599-2014. UC Irvine: Retrieved from: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/8mw6x3gp article 2014 ftcdlib https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-1599-2014 2018-12-14T23:51:56Z Marine microbial communities mediate many biogeochemical transformations in the ocean. Consequently, processes such as primary production and carbon (C) export are linked to nutrient regeneration and are influenced by the resource demand and elemental composition of marine microbial biomass. Laboratory studies have demonstrated that differential partitioning of element resources to various cellular components can directly influence overall cellular elemental ratios, especially with respect to growth machinery (i.e., ribosomal RNA) and phosphorus (P) allocation. To investigate whether allocation to RNA is related to biomass P content and overall C: P biomass composition in the open ocean, we characterized patterns of P allocation and C: P elemental ratios along an environmental gradient of phosphate supply in the North Atlantic subtropical gyre (NASG) from 35.67° N, 64.17° W to 22.676° N, 65.526° W. Because the NASG is characterized as a P-stressed ecosystem, we hypothesized that biochemical allocation would reflect sensitivity to bioavailable phosphate, such that greater phosphate supply would result in increased allocation toward P-rich RNA for growth. We predicted these changes in allocation would also result in lower C: P ratios with increased phosphate supply. However, bulk C: P ratios were decoupled from allocation to nucleic acids and did not appear to vary systematically across a phosphate supply gradient of 2.2-14.7 μ4mol m-2 d-1. Overall, we found that C: P ratios ranged from 188 to 306 along the transect, and RNA represented only 6-12% of total particulate P, whereas DNA represented 11-19%. We did find that allocation to RNA was positively correlated with phosphate supply rate, suggesting a consistent physiological response in biochemical allocation to resource supply within the whole community. These results suggest that community composition and/or nonnucleic acid P pools may influence ecosystem-scale variation in C: P stoichiometry more than nucleic acid allocation or P supply in diverse marine microbial communities. ©Author(s) 2014. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic University of California: eScholarship Biogeosciences 11 6 1599 1611 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of California: eScholarship |
op_collection_id |
ftcdlib |
language |
English |
description |
Marine microbial communities mediate many biogeochemical transformations in the ocean. Consequently, processes such as primary production and carbon (C) export are linked to nutrient regeneration and are influenced by the resource demand and elemental composition of marine microbial biomass. Laboratory studies have demonstrated that differential partitioning of element resources to various cellular components can directly influence overall cellular elemental ratios, especially with respect to growth machinery (i.e., ribosomal RNA) and phosphorus (P) allocation. To investigate whether allocation to RNA is related to biomass P content and overall C: P biomass composition in the open ocean, we characterized patterns of P allocation and C: P elemental ratios along an environmental gradient of phosphate supply in the North Atlantic subtropical gyre (NASG) from 35.67° N, 64.17° W to 22.676° N, 65.526° W. Because the NASG is characterized as a P-stressed ecosystem, we hypothesized that biochemical allocation would reflect sensitivity to bioavailable phosphate, such that greater phosphate supply would result in increased allocation toward P-rich RNA for growth. We predicted these changes in allocation would also result in lower C: P ratios with increased phosphate supply. However, bulk C: P ratios were decoupled from allocation to nucleic acids and did not appear to vary systematically across a phosphate supply gradient of 2.2-14.7 μ4mol m-2 d-1. Overall, we found that C: P ratios ranged from 188 to 306 along the transect, and RNA represented only 6-12% of total particulate P, whereas DNA represented 11-19%. We did find that allocation to RNA was positively correlated with phosphate supply rate, suggesting a consistent physiological response in biochemical allocation to resource supply within the whole community. These results suggest that community composition and/or nonnucleic acid P pools may influence ecosystem-scale variation in C: P stoichiometry more than nucleic acid allocation or P supply in diverse marine microbial communities. ©Author(s) 2014. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Zimmerman, AE Martiny, AC Lomas, MW Allison, SD |
spellingShingle |
Zimmerman, AE Martiny, AC Lomas, MW Allison, SD Phosphate supply explains variation in nucleic acid allocation but not C: P stoichiometry in the western North Atlantic |
author_facet |
Zimmerman, AE Martiny, AC Lomas, MW Allison, SD |
author_sort |
Zimmerman, AE |
title |
Phosphate supply explains variation in nucleic acid allocation but not C: P stoichiometry in the western North Atlantic |
title_short |
Phosphate supply explains variation in nucleic acid allocation but not C: P stoichiometry in the western North Atlantic |
title_full |
Phosphate supply explains variation in nucleic acid allocation but not C: P stoichiometry in the western North Atlantic |
title_fullStr |
Phosphate supply explains variation in nucleic acid allocation but not C: P stoichiometry in the western North Atlantic |
title_full_unstemmed |
Phosphate supply explains variation in nucleic acid allocation but not C: P stoichiometry in the western North Atlantic |
title_sort |
phosphate supply explains variation in nucleic acid allocation but not c: p stoichiometry in the western north atlantic |
publisher |
eScholarship, University of California |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/8mw6x3gp |
op_coverage |
1599 - 1611 |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_source |
Zimmerman, AE; Martiny, AC; Lomas, MW; & Allison, SD. (2014). Phosphate supply explains variation in nucleic acid allocation but not C: P stoichiometry in the western North Atlantic. Biogeosciences, 11(6), 1599 - 1611. doi:10.5194/bg-11-1599-2014. UC Irvine: Retrieved from: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/8mw6x3gp |
op_relation |
qt8mw6x3gp http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/8mw6x3gp |
op_rights |
Attribution (CC BY): http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-1599-2014 |
container_title |
Biogeosciences |
container_volume |
11 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
1599 |
op_container_end_page |
1611 |
_version_ |
1766130085506580480 |