Inter-Research > AME > v81 > n3 > p213-218  
AME
Aquatic Microbial Ecology


via Mailchimp

AME 81:213-218 (2018)  -  DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/ame01871

NOTE
Polar marine diatoms likely take up a small fraction of dissolved dimethylsulfoniopropionate relative to bacteria in oligotrophic environments

Michel Lavoie1,*, Jeffrey C. Waller2, Ronald P. Kiene3,4, Maurice Levasseur1

1Québec-Océan and Unité Mixte Internationale Takuvik Ulaval-CNRS, Département de Biologie, Université Laval, Québec, Québec G1K 7P4, Canada.
2Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Mount Allison University, Sackville, New Brunswick E4L 1G8, Canada
3Department of Marine Sciences, University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL 36688, USA
4Dauphin Island Sea Lab, Dauphin Island, Alabama 36528, USA
*Corresponding author:

ABSTRACT: Dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) constitutes a major compound in the global sulfur cycle. A few studies over the last decade have revealed that not only bacteria but also eukaryotic phytoplankton may take up DMSP from the dissolved pool, although the mechanisms and quantitative importance of this undefined DMSP uptake pathway, particularly by polar phytoplankton, remain poorly known. To fill this gap, we undertook short-term 35S-DMSP uptake kinetic experiments in axenic laboratory batch cultures of 3 polar marine diatoms (Thalassiosira gravida, Chaetoceros neogracilis, and Chaetoceros gelidus). DMSP uptake by C. neogracilis and C. gelidus was below the detection limit, but significant DMSP uptake by T. gravida was observed. These differences might be explained by the presence of a putative OpuD/DddT-like DMSP transporter in various Thalassiosira spp., which is absent in the transcriptomes of Chaetoceros spp. Based on conservative extrapolation of DMSP uptake kinetics measured in T. gravida cultures to the complex consortium of diatoms found in oligotrophic Arctic environments, the fraction of dissolved DMSP taken up by polar diatoms is probably small compared to that taken up by bacteria and (perhaps) other eukaryotic algae.


KEY WORDS: DMSP · Osmotrophy · Chaetoceros · Thalassiosira · Transporters · Arctic · Marine bacteria


Full text in pdf format
Supplementary material
Cite this article as: Lavoie M, Waller JC, Kiene RP, Levasseur M (2018) Polar marine diatoms likely take up a small fraction of dissolved dimethylsulfoniopropionate relative to bacteria in oligotrophic environments. Aquat Microb Ecol 81:213-218. https://doi.org/10.3354/ame01871

Export citation
Share:    Facebook - - linkedIn

 Previous article Next article