Phosphonate production by marine microbes: Exploring new sources and potential function
Name
pnas.2113386119.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
1.37 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
f058c2f50f6b94ace63af17402b72b11
Author(s)
Acker, Marianne
Hogle, Shane L
Berube, Paul M
Hackl, Thomas
Coe, Allison
Stepanauskas, Ramunas
Chisholm, Sallie W
Repeta, Daniel J
Date Issued
2022
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Publisher
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Citation
Acker, Marianne, Hogle, Shane L, Berube, Paul M, Hackl, Thomas, Coe, Allison et al. 2022. "Phosphonate production by marine microbes: Exploring new sources and potential function." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 119 (11).
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Significance
Phosphonates are a class of phosphorus metabolites characterized by a highly stable C-P bond. Phosphonates accumulate to high concentrations in seawater, fuel a large fraction of marine methane production, and serve as a source of phosphorus to microbes inhabiting nutrient-limited regions of the oligotrophic ocean. Here, we show that 15% of all bacterioplankton in the surface ocean have genes phosphonate synthesis and that most belong to the abundant groups Prochlorococcus and SAR11. Genomic and chemical evidence suggests that phosphonates are incorporated into cell-surface phosphonoglycoproteins that may act to mitigate cell mortality by grazing and viral lysis. These results underscore the large global biogeochemical impact of relatively rare but highly expressed traits in numerically abundant groups of marine bacteria.
Phosphonates are a class of phosphorus metabolites characterized by a highly stable C-P bond. Phosphonates accumulate to high concentrations in seawater, fuel a large fraction of marine methane production, and serve as a source of phosphorus to microbes inhabiting nutrient-limited regions of the oligotrophic ocean. Here, we show that 15% of all bacterioplankton in the surface ocean have genes phosphonate synthesis and that most belong to the abundant groups Prochlorococcus and SAR11. Genomic and chemical evidence suggests that phosphonates are incorporated into cell-surface phosphonoglycoproteins that may act to mitigate cell mortality by grazing and viral lysis. These results underscore the large global biogeochemical impact of relatively rare but highly expressed traits in numerically abundant groups of marine bacteria.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1073/PNAS.2113386119
