scholarly journals Verrucomicrobiota are specialist consumers of sulfated methyl pentoses during diatom blooms

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis H. Orellana ◽  
T. Ben Francis ◽  
Marcela Ferraro ◽  
Jan-Hendrik Hehemann ◽  
Bernhard M. Fuchs ◽  
...  

AbstractMarine algae annually sequester petagrams of carbon dioxide into polysaccharides, which are a central metabolic fuel for marine carbon cycling. Diatom microalgae produce sulfated polysaccharides containing methyl pentoses that are challenging to degrade for bacteria compared to other monomers, implicating these sugars as a potential carbon sink. Free-living bacteria occurring in phytoplankton blooms that specialise on consuming microalgal sugars, containing fucose and rhamnose remain unknown. Here, genomic and proteomic data indicate that small, coccoid, free-living Verrucomicrobiota specialise in fucose and rhamnose consumption during spring algal blooms in the North Sea. Verrucomicrobiota cell abundance was coupled with the algae bloom onset and accounted for up to 8% of the bacterioplankton. Glycoside hydrolases, sulfatases, and bacterial microcompartments, critical proteins for the consumption of fucosylated and sulfated polysaccharides, were actively expressed during consecutive spring bloom events. These specialised pathways were assigned to novel and discrete candidate species of the Akkermansiaceae and Puniceicoccaceae families, which we here describe as Candidatus Mariakkermansia forsetii and Candidatus Fucivorax forsetii. Moreover, our results suggest specialised metabolic pathways could determine the fate of complex polysaccharides consumed during algae blooms. Thus the sequestration of phytoplankton organic matter via methyl pentose sugars likely depend on the activity of specialised Verrucomicrobiota populations.

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvia Vidal-Melgosa ◽  
Andreas Sichert ◽  
T. Ben Francis ◽  
Daniel Bartosik ◽  
Jutta Niggemann ◽  
...  

AbstractThe formation of sinking particles in the ocean, which promote carbon sequestration into deeper water and sediments, involves algal polysaccharides acting as an adhesive, binding together molecules, cells and minerals. These as yet unidentified adhesive polysaccharides must resist degradation by bacterial enzymes or else they dissolve and particles disassemble before exporting carbon. Here, using monoclonal antibodies as analytical tools, we trace the abundance of 27 polysaccharide epitopes in dissolved and particulate organic matter during a series of diatom blooms in the North Sea, and discover a fucose-containing sulphated polysaccharide (FCSP) that resists enzymatic degradation, accumulates and aggregates. Previously only known as a macroalgal polysaccharide, we find FCSP to be secreted by several globally abundant diatom species including the genera Chaetoceros and Thalassiosira. These findings provide evidence for a novel polysaccharide candidate to contribute to carbon sequestration in the ocean.


2005 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Thomas ◽  
Y. Bozec ◽  
H. J. W. de Baar ◽  
K. Elkalay ◽  
M. Frankignoulle ◽  
...  

Abstract. A carbon budget has been established for the North Sea, a shelf sea on the NW European continental shelf. The carbon exchange fluxes with the North Atlantic Ocean dominate the gross carbon budget. The net carbon budget – more relevant to the issue of the contribution of the coastal ocean to the marine carbon cycle – is dominated by the carbon inputs from rivers, the Baltic Sea and the atmosphere. The North Sea acts as a sink for organic carbon and thus can be characterised as a heterotrophic system. The dominant carbon sink is the final export to the North Atlantic Ocean. More than 90% of the CO2 taken up from the atmosphere is exported to the North Atlantic Ocean making the North Sea a highly efficient continental shelf pump for carbon.


2019 ◽  
Vol 85 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Arite Bigalke ◽  
Nils Meyer ◽  
Lydia Alkistis Papanikolopoulou ◽  
Karen Helen Wiltshire ◽  
Georg Pohnert

ABSTRACT Plankton communities consist of complex microbial consortia that change over time. These fluctuations can be only partially explained by limiting resources. Biotic factors such as herbivores and pathogens also contribute to the control of algal blooms. Here we address the effects of algicidal bacteria on a natural plankton community in an indoor enclosure experiment. The algicidal bacteria, introduced into plankton taken directly from the North Sea during a diatom bloom, caused the rapid decline of the bloom-forming Chaetoceros socialis within only 1 day. The haptophyte Phaeocystis, in contrast, is resistant to the lytic bacteria and could benefit from the removal of the competitor, as indicated by an onset of a bloom in the treated enclosures. This cascading effect caused by the bacterial pathogen accelerated the succession of Phaeocystis, which bloomed with a delay of only several weeks in the in situ waters at Helgoland Roads in the North Sea. The algicidal bacteria can thus modulate the community within the limits of the abiotic and biotic conditions of the local environment. Implications of our findings for plankton ecosystem functioning are discussed. IMPORTANCE Plankton communities change on a seasonal basis in temperate systems, with distinct succession patterns; this is mainly due to algal species that have their optimal timing relative to environmental conditions. We know that bacterial populations are also instrumental in the decay and termination of phytoplankton blooms. Here, we describe algicidal bacteria as modulators of this important species succession. Upon treatment of a natural plankton consortium with an algicidal bacterium, we observed a strong shift in the phytoplankton community structure, compared to controls, resulting in formation of a succeeding Phaeocystis bloom. Blooms of this alga have a substantial impact on global biogeochemical and ecological cycles, as they are responsible for a substantial proportion of primary production during spring in the North Sea. We propose that one of the key factors influencing such community shifts may be algicidal bacteria.


Author(s):  
M. C. Austen ◽  
R. M. Warwick ◽  
K. P. Ryan

A new species of mouthless and gutless free-living marine nematode, Astomonema southwardorum sp. nov., the dominant species from a methane seep pockmark in the North Sea, is described and illustrated. The new species is distinguished by its combination of short cephalic and cervical setae, with the latter being sparsely and irregularly distributed, and also in male specimens by its arrangement of precloacal and caudal setae and its postcloacal papillae. The genus Astomonema Ott, Rieger, Rieger & Enderes, 1982, is rediagnosed. Astomonema brevicauda (Vitiello, 1971) Vidakovik & Boucher, 1987, is considered to be a species inquirenda.


2004 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 367-392 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Thomas ◽  
Y. Bozec ◽  
H. J. W. de Baar ◽  
K. Elkalay ◽  
M. Frankignoulle ◽  
...  

Abstract. A carbon budget has been established for the North Sea, a shelf sea of the NW European continental shelf. The air-sea exchange of CO2 has been assessed as closing term of the budget. The carbon exchange fluxes with the North Atlantic Ocean dominate the gross carbon budget. The net carbon budget – more relevant to the issue of the contribution of the coastal ocean to the marine carbon cycle – is dominated by the carbon inputs from rivers, the Baltic Sea and the atmosphere. The dominant carbon sink is the final export to the North Atlantic Ocean. The North Sea acts as a sink for organic carbon. More than 90% of the CO2 taken up from the atmosphere is exported to the North Atlantic Ocean making the North Sea a highly efficient continental shelf pump for carbon.


2015 ◽  
Vol 92 (1) ◽  
pp. fiv145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saranya Kanukollu ◽  
Bernd Wemheuer ◽  
Janina Herber ◽  
Sara Billerbeck ◽  
Judith Lucas ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Simon Jennings ◽  
John Lancaster ◽  
Andrew Woolmer ◽  
John Cotter

The assemblages of attached and freeliving epibenthic species in the North Sea are described, based on analysis of samples collected with a small beam trawl. Clustering of survey sites based on the presence or absence of attached species indicated that three regions had characteristic assemblages: the northern North Sea, the central North Sea from 55 to 57°N and the southern North Sea. Clustering of sites based on counts of free-living epibenthic species also revealed that the sites formed three major groups but these corresponded to regions in the north-east North Sea, the northern and western central North Sea and the southern and eastern central North Sea. Species which contributed most to the similarity within and dissimilarity between groups were identified. The environmental factors which best accounted for the grouping of sites were depth, winter temperature and the temperature difference between winter and summer for attached species and depth and the temperature difference between winter and summer for free-living species. The species richness of attached and free-living epibenthic species was higher in the central and northern North Sea than in the south. The number of abundant (Hill's N1) and very abundant (Hill's N2) free-living species also increased from south to north.


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