Selfish bacteria are active throughout the water column of the ocean
Abstract Heterotrophic bacteria in the ocean invest carbon, nitrogen, and energy in extracellular enzymes to hydrolyze large substrates to smaller sizes suitable for uptake. Since hydrolysis products produced outside of a cell may be lost to diffusion, the return on this investment is uncertain. Sel...
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2023
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:175205633af34912903e7f831ae71ffe 2024-09-15T18:23:39+00:00 Selfish bacteria are active throughout the water column of the ocean Greta Giljan Sarah Brown C. Chad Lloyd Sherif Ghobrial Rudolf Amann Carol Arnosti 2023-02-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1038/s43705-023-00219-7 https://doaj.org/article/175205633af34912903e7f831ae71ffe EN eng Oxford University Press https://doi.org/10.1038/s43705-023-00219-7 https://doaj.org/toc/2730-6151 doi:10.1038/s43705-023-00219-7 2730-6151 https://doaj.org/article/175205633af34912903e7f831ae71ffe ISME Communications, Vol 3, Iss 1, Pp 1-8 (2023) Microbial ecology QR100-130 article 2023 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1038/s43705-023-00219-7 2024-08-05T17:49:42Z Abstract Heterotrophic bacteria in the ocean invest carbon, nitrogen, and energy in extracellular enzymes to hydrolyze large substrates to smaller sizes suitable for uptake. Since hydrolysis products produced outside of a cell may be lost to diffusion, the return on this investment is uncertain. Selfish bacteria change the odds in their favor by binding, partially hydrolyzing, and transporting polysaccharides into the periplasmic space without loss of hydrolysis products. We expected selfish bacteria to be most common in the upper ocean, where phytoplankton produce abundant fresh organic matter, including complex polysaccharides. We, therefore, sampled water in the western North Atlantic Ocean at four depths from three stations differing in physiochemical conditions; these stations and depths also differed considerably in microbial community composition. To our surprise, we found that selfish bacteria are common throughout the water column of the ocean, including at depths greater than 5500 m. Selfish uptake as a strategy thus appears to be geographically—and phylogenetically—widespread. Since processing and uptake of polysaccharides require enzymes that are highly sensitive to substrate structure, the activities of these bacteria might not be reflected by measurements relying on uptake only of low molecular weight substrates. Moreover, even at the bottom of the ocean, the supply of structurally-intact polysaccharides, and therefore the return on enzymatic investment, must be sufficient to maintain these organisms. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles ISME Communications 3 1 |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Microbial ecology QR100-130 |
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Microbial ecology QR100-130 Greta Giljan Sarah Brown C. Chad Lloyd Sherif Ghobrial Rudolf Amann Carol Arnosti Selfish bacteria are active throughout the water column of the ocean |
topic_facet |
Microbial ecology QR100-130 |
description |
Abstract Heterotrophic bacteria in the ocean invest carbon, nitrogen, and energy in extracellular enzymes to hydrolyze large substrates to smaller sizes suitable for uptake. Since hydrolysis products produced outside of a cell may be lost to diffusion, the return on this investment is uncertain. Selfish bacteria change the odds in their favor by binding, partially hydrolyzing, and transporting polysaccharides into the periplasmic space without loss of hydrolysis products. We expected selfish bacteria to be most common in the upper ocean, where phytoplankton produce abundant fresh organic matter, including complex polysaccharides. We, therefore, sampled water in the western North Atlantic Ocean at four depths from three stations differing in physiochemical conditions; these stations and depths also differed considerably in microbial community composition. To our surprise, we found that selfish bacteria are common throughout the water column of the ocean, including at depths greater than 5500 m. Selfish uptake as a strategy thus appears to be geographically—and phylogenetically—widespread. Since processing and uptake of polysaccharides require enzymes that are highly sensitive to substrate structure, the activities of these bacteria might not be reflected by measurements relying on uptake only of low molecular weight substrates. Moreover, even at the bottom of the ocean, the supply of structurally-intact polysaccharides, and therefore the return on enzymatic investment, must be sufficient to maintain these organisms. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Greta Giljan Sarah Brown C. Chad Lloyd Sherif Ghobrial Rudolf Amann Carol Arnosti |
author_facet |
Greta Giljan Sarah Brown C. Chad Lloyd Sherif Ghobrial Rudolf Amann Carol Arnosti |
author_sort |
Greta Giljan |
title |
Selfish bacteria are active throughout the water column of the ocean |
title_short |
Selfish bacteria are active throughout the water column of the ocean |
title_full |
Selfish bacteria are active throughout the water column of the ocean |
title_fullStr |
Selfish bacteria are active throughout the water column of the ocean |
title_full_unstemmed |
Selfish bacteria are active throughout the water column of the ocean |
title_sort |
selfish bacteria are active throughout the water column of the ocean |
publisher |
Oxford University Press |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s43705-023-00219-7 https://doaj.org/article/175205633af34912903e7f831ae71ffe |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_source |
ISME Communications, Vol 3, Iss 1, Pp 1-8 (2023) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s43705-023-00219-7 https://doaj.org/toc/2730-6151 doi:10.1038/s43705-023-00219-7 2730-6151 https://doaj.org/article/175205633af34912903e7f831ae71ffe |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s43705-023-00219-7 |
container_title |
ISME Communications |
container_volume |
3 |
container_issue |
1 |
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1810463898161119232 |