Proteomic profiling of the Baltic Sea cyanobacterium Nodularia spumigena strain AV1 during ammonium supplementation

Proteomics Analysis of the Effects of Cyanate on Chromobacterium violaceum Metabolism

Chromobacterium violaceum is a gram-negative betaproteobacterium that has been isolated from various Brazilian ecosystems. Its genome contains the cyn operon, which gives it the ability to metabolize highly toxic cyanate into ammonium and carbon dioxide. We used a proteomics approach to investigate the effects of cyanate on the metabolism of this bacterium. The proteome of cells grown with and without cyanate was compared on 2-D gels. Differential spots were digested and identified by mass spectrometry. The bacterium was able to grow at concentrations of up to 1 mM cyanate. Eighteen spots were differentially expressed in the presence of cyanate, of which 16 were downregulated and only two were upregulated. An additional 12 spots were detected only in extracts of cells unexposed to cyanate, and one was expressed only by the exposed cells. Fourteen spots were identified, corresponding to 13 different proteins. We conclude that cyanate promotes expression of enzymes that combat oxidative stress and represses enzymes of the citric acid cycle, strongly affecting the energetic metabolism of the cell. Other proteins that were under-expressed in bacteria exposed to cyanate are involved in amino-acid metabolism or are hypothetical proteins, demonstrating that cyanate also affects expression of genes that are not part of the cyn operon.

Carbon, nitrogen and O(2) fluxes associated with the cyanobacterium Nodularia spumigena in the Baltic Sea

Photosynthesis, respiration, N(2) fixation and ammonium release were studied directly in Nodularia spumigena during a bloom in the Baltic Sea using a combination of microsensors, stable isotope tracer experiments combined with nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry (nanoSIMS) and fluorometry. Cell-specific net C- and N(2)-fixation rates by N. spumigena were 81.6±6.7 and 11.4±0.9 fmol N per cell per h, respectively. During light, the net C:N fixation ratio was 8.0±0.8. During darkness, carbon fixation was not detectable, but N(2) fixation was 5.4±0.4 fmol N per cell per h. Net photosynthesis varied between 0.34 and 250 nmol O(2) h(-1) in colonies with diameters ranging between 0.13 and 5.0 mm, and it reached the theoretical upper limit set by diffusion of dissolved inorganic carbon to colonies (>1 mm). Dark respiration of the same colonies varied between 0.038 and 87 nmol O(2) h(-1), and it reached the limit set by O(2) diffusion from the surrounding water to colonies (>1 mm). N(2) fixation associated with N. spumigena colonies (>1 mm) comprised on average 18% of the total N(2) fixation in the bulk water. Net NH(4)(+) release in colonies equaled 8-33% of the estimated gross N(2) fixation during photosynthesis. NH(4)(+) concentrations within light-exposed colonies, modeled from measured net NH(4)(+) release rates, were 60-fold higher than that of the bulk. Hence, N. spumigena colonies comprise highly productive microenvironments and an attractive NH(4)(+) microenvironment to be utilized by other (micro)organisms in the Baltic Sea where dissolved inorganic nitrogen is limiting growth.