High molecular weight dissolved organic matter enrichment selects for methylotrophs in dilution to extinction cultures

Dynamic patterns of carbohydrate metabolism genes in bacterioplankton during marine algal blooms

Carbohydrates play a pivotal role in nutrient recycling and regulation of algal-bacterial interactions. Despite their ecological significance, the intricate molecular mechanisms governing regulation of phycosphere carbohydrates by bacterial taxa linked with natural algal bloom have yet to be fully elucidated. Here, a comprehensive temporal metagenomic analysis was conducted to explore the carbohydrate-active enzyme (CAZyme) genes in two discrete algal bloom microorganisms (Gymnodinium catenatum and Phaeocystis globosa) across three distinct bloom stages: pre-bloom, peak bloom, and post-bloom. Elevated levels of extracellular carbohydrates, primarily rhamnose, galactose, glucose, and arabinose, were observed during the initial and post-peak stages. The prominent CAZyme families identified-glycoside hydrolases (GH) and carbohydrate-binding modules (CBMs)-were present in both algal bloom occurrences. In the G. catenatum bloom, GH23/24 and CBM13/14 were prevalent during the pre-bloom and peak bloom stages, whereas GH2/3/30 and CBM12/24 exhibited increased prevalence during the post-bloom phase. In contrast, the P. globosa bloom had a dominance of GH13/23 and CBM19 in the initial phase, and this was succeeded by GH3/19/24/30 and CBM54 in the later stages. This gene pool variation-observed distinctly in specific genera-highlighted the dynamic structural shifts in functional resources driven by temporal alterations in available substrates. Additionally, ecological linkage analysis underscored a correlation between carbohydrates (or their related genes) and phycospheric bacteria, hinting at a pattern of bottom-up control. These findings contribute to understanding of the dynamic nature of CAZymes, emphasizing the substantial influence of substrate availability on the metabolic capabilities of algal symbiotic bacteria, especially in terms of carbohydrates.

Diversity in the utilization of different molecular classes of dissolved organic matter by heterotrophic marine bacteria

Heterotrophic marine bacteria utilize and recycle dissolved organic matter (DOM), impacting biogeochemical cycles. It is currently unclear to what extent distinct DOM components can be used by different heterotrophic clades. Here, we ask how a natural microbial community from the Eastern Mediterranean Sea (EMS) responds to different molecular classes of DOM (peptides, amino acids, amino sugars, disaccharides, monosaccharides, and organic acids) comprising much of the biomass of living organisms. Bulk bacterial activity increased after 24 h for all treatments relative to the control, while glucose and ATP uptake decreased or remained unchanged. Moreover, while the per-cell uptake rate of glucose and ATP decreased, that of Leucin significantly increased for amino acids, reflecting their importance as common metabolic currencies in the marine environment. Pseudoalteromonadaceae dominated the peptides treatment, while different Vibrionaceae strains became dominant in response to amino acids and amino sugars. Marinomonadaceae grew well on organic acids, and Alteromonadaseae on disaccharides. A comparison with a recent laboratory-based study reveals similar peptide preferences for Pseudoalteromonadaceae, while Alteromonadaceae, for example, grew well in the lab on many substrates but dominated in seawater samples only when disaccharides were added. We further demonstrate a potential correlation between the genetic capacity for degrading amino sugars and the dominance of specific clades in these treatments. These results highlight the diversity in DOM utilization among heterotrophic bacteria and complexities in the response of natural communities.

IMPORTANCE

A major goal of microbial ecology is to predict the dynamics of natural communities based on the identity of the organisms, their physiological traits, and their genomes. Our results show that several clades of heterotrophic bacteria each grow in response to one or more specific classes of organic matter. For some clades, but not others, growth in a complex community is similar to that of isolated strains in laboratory monoculture. Additionally, by measuring how the entire community responds to various classes of organic matter, we show that these results are ecologically relevant, and propose that some of these resources are utilized through common uptake pathways. Tracing the path between different resources to the specific microbes that utilize them, and identifying commonalities and differences between different natural communities and between them and lab cultures, is an important step toward understanding microbial community dynamics and predicting how communities will respond to perturbations.

Effect of ocean acidification on the growth, response and hydrocarbon degradation of coccolithophore-bacterial communities exposed to crude oil

Hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria, which can be found living with eukaryotic phytoplankton, play a pivotal role in the fate of oil spillage to the marine environment. Considering the susceptibility of calcium carbonate-bearing phytoplankton under future ocean acidification conditions and their oil-degrading communities to oil exposure under such conditions, we investigated the response of non-axenic E. huxleyi to crude oil under ambient versus elevated CO₂ concentrations. Under elevated CO₂ conditions, exposure to crude oil resulted in the immediate decline of E. huxleyi, with concomitant shifts in the relative abundance of Alphaproteobacteria and Gammaproteobacteria. Survival of E. huxleyi under ambient conditions following oil enrichment was likely facilitated by enrichment of oil-degraders Methylobacterium and Sphingomonas, while the increase in relative abundance of Marinobacter and unclassified Gammaproteobacteria may have increased competitive pressure with E. huxleyi for micronutrient acquisition. Biodegradation of the oil was not affected by elevated CO₂ despite a shift in relative abundance of known and putative hydrocarbon degraders. While ocean acidification does not appear to affect microbial degradation of crude oil, elevated mortality responses of E. huxleyi and shifts in the bacterial community illustrates the complexity of microalgal-bacterial interactions and highlights the need to factor these into future ecosystem recovery projections.

Bacterial response to glucose addition: growth and community structure in seawater microcosms from North Pacific Ocean

Onboard microcosm experiments were conducted to assess how bacterial growth pattern and community structure changed by the addition of labile organic compound during the KH-14-2 cruise of R/V Hakuho Maru (Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, the University of Tokyo and JAMSTEC) in May-June 2014. Seawater samples were collected from the three diversified oceanic environments, Kuroshio Current, North Pacific Sub-polar Gyre (SPG), and North Pacific Sub-tropical Gyre (STG) in the western North Pacific Ocean, filtered, supplemented with glucose, and incubated at 23 ± 1 °C, ~ 4 °C, and 23 ± 1 °C, respectively. Untreated control microcosms were also maintained for all the sample types. Significant increases in cell counts and cell sizes were observed in Kuroshio Current and STG waters, whereas in SPG neither the counts nor the sizes changed, even after 120 h of incubation. At early stages of incubation, the classes Bacteroidia, Alphaproteobacteria, and Gammaproteobacteria were dominant in the Kuroshio Current and SPG samples, while the phyla Cyanobacteria and Proteobacteria in the STG samples. Over incubation periods between 60 and 96 h, some members of the class Gammaproteobacteria gradually dominated within which the genera Vibrio and Alteromonas became dominant in the Kuroshio Current and STG, respectively. No growth was detected for the microcosms with seawater from SPG, regardless of glucose amendment. It is concluded that depending on the environmental condition, certain different bacterial groups proliferated quickly and modified the community structures. Temperature significantly influenced the growth and succession, and ultimately the community structure of bacteria.

Rapid bacterioplankton transcription cascades regulate organic matter utilization during phytoplankton bloom progression in a coastal upwelling system

Coastal upwelling zones are hotspots of oceanic productivity, driven by phytoplankton photosynthesis. Bacteria, in turn, grow on and are the principal remineralizers of dissolved organic matter (DOM) produced in aquatic ecosystems. However, the molecular processes that key bacterial taxa employ to regulate the turnover of phytoplankton-derived DOM are not well understood. We therefore carried out comparative time-series metatranscriptome analyses of bacterioplankton in the Northwest Iberian upwelling system, using parallel sampling of seawater and mesocosms with in situ-like conditions. The mesocosm experiment uncovered a taxon-specific progression of transcriptional responses from bloom development (characterized by a diverse set of taxa in the orders Cellvibrionales, Rhodobacterales, and Pelagibacterales), over early decay (mainly taxa in the Alteromonadales and Flavobacteriales), to senescence phases (Flavobacteriales and Saprospirales taxa). Pronounced order-specific differences in the transcription of glycoside hydrolases, peptidases, and transporters were found, supporting that functional resource partitioning is dynamically structured by temporal changes in available DOM. In addition, comparative analysis of mesocosm and field samples revealed a high degree of metabolic plasticity in the degradation and uptake of carbohydrates and nitrogen-rich compounds, suggesting these gene systems critically contribute to modulating the stoichiometry of the labile DOM pool. Our findings suggest that cascades of transcriptional responses in gene systems for the utilization of organic matter and nutrients largely shape the fate of organic matter on the time scales typical of upwelling-driven phytoplankton blooms.

Responses of two marine fish to organically complexed Zn: Insights from microbial community and liver transcriptomics

The diversity and adjustability of metal-organic complex enhance the function of metals and promote the burgeoning fields of chemical biology. In the present study, we chose two marine fish to explore the effects of a dihydromyricetin (DMY)-Zn(II) complex on the intestinal microbiome composition and liver biological function using high-throughput sequencing technology. Two economic fish species commonly found in Southern China (golden pompano Trachinotus ovatus and pearl gentian grouper ♀Epinephelus fuscoguttatus × ♂Epinephelus lanceolatus) were exposed to dietary DMY-Zn complex for 4-week. Our study found that DMY-Zn performed a vital function on the improved anti-oxidative ability of both fish species. The Zn complex improved the stability of microbial community structure of the golden pompano by enhancing the α-diversity, but its impacts on the composition and diversity of intestine microorganisms of grouper were insignificant. BugBase results showed that the intestine microbiota following DMY-Zn exposure contained a lower abundance of potentially pathogenic bacteria and higher abundance of aerobic bacteria. Intestine health and utilization of carbohydrates were improved in the golden pompano, and unclassified bacteria were significantly enriched in the grouper. Liver transcriptome indicated that DMY-Zn affected the oxidative phosphorylation process (OXPHOS). Specifically, the OXPHOS process (map00190) was activated by promoting the glucose uptake (map04251, map04010) in golden pompano and lipid metabolism (map00071, map00140, map00062 and map00564) in grouper. Such difference in the responses of intestine microbiome and liver metabolism may be possibly explained by their different Zn basal requirements. Our study demonstrated that different fish species may have different responses to dietary DMY-Zn complex. The results provided a reference for the application of new additives in aquatic animal feed, and new insights into the roles of metal-organic complex in their biological impacts on fish.

Size-Fractionated Microbiome Structure in Subarctic Rivers and a Coastal Plume Across DOC and Salinity Gradients

Little is known about the microbial diversity of rivers that flow across the changing subarctic landscape. Using amplicon sequencing (rRNA and rRNA genes) combined with HPLC pigment analysis and physicochemical measurements, we investigated the diversity of two size fractions of planktonic Bacteria, Archaea and microbial eukaryotes along environmental gradients in the Great Whale River (GWR), Canada. This large subarctic river drains an extensive watershed that includes areas of thawing permafrost, and discharges into southeastern Hudson Bay as an extensive plume that gradually mixes with the coastal marine waters. The microbial communities differed by size-fraction (separated with a 3-μm filter), and clustered into three distinct environmental groups: (1) the GWR sites throughout a 150-km sampling transect; (2) the GWR plume in Hudson Bay; and (3) small rivers that flow through degraded permafrost landscapes. There was a downstream increase in taxonomic richness along the GWR, suggesting that sub-catchment inputs influence microbial community structure in the absence of sharp environmental gradients. Microbial community structure shifted across the salinity gradient within the plume, with changes in taxonomic composition and diversity. Rivers flowing through degraded permafrost had distinct physicochemical and microbiome characteristics, with allochthonous dissolved organic carbon explaining part of the variation in community structure. Finally, our analyses of the core microbiome indicated that while a substantial part of all communities consisted of generalists, most taxa had a more limited environmental range and may therefore be sensitive to ongoing change.

Polysaccharide utilization by a marine heterotrophic bacterium from the SAR92 clade

SAR92 is one of the few examples of a widely distributed, abundant oligotroph that can be cultivated to study pathways of carbon oxidation in ocean systems. Genomic evidence for SAR92 suggests that this gammaproteobacterium might be a primary consumer of polysaccharides in the epipelagic zone, its main habitat. Here, we investigated cell growth, polysaccharide utilization gene expression, and carbohydrate-active enzyme abundance of a culturable SAR92 strain, HTCC2207, grown with different polysaccharides. Xylan and laminarin, two polysaccharides mainly produced by phytoplankton, supported the growth of HTCC2207 better than other polysaccharides. HTCC2207 possessed polysaccharide utilization loci (PULs) consisting of TonB-dependent receptor (TBDR) and glycoside hydrolase (GH) family genes. GH genes such as GH17 and GH3 presented no substrate-specificity and were induced by different sugar substrates, while expressions of GH16, GH10 and GH30 were enhanced in the glucose-treatment but suppressed in the polysaccharide-treatment, indicating complex polysaccharide utilization by HTCC2207. Metabolic pathways for laminarin and xylan were re-constructed in HTCC2207 based on the PULs genes and other predicted carbohydrate-active enzymes. This study reveals features of the epipelagic niche of SAR92 and provide insight into the biogeochemical cycling of labile, high-molecular carbohydrate compounds in the surface ocean.

Mle046 Is a Marine Mesophilic MHETase-Like Enzyme

Accumulation of plastics in the oceans presents a major threat to diverse ecosystems. The introduction of biodegradable plastics into the market aims to alleviate the ecological burden caused by recalcitrant plastics. Poly (butylene adipate-co-terephthalate) (PBAT) is a biodegradable commercial plastic that can be biodegraded similarly to polyethylene terephthalate (PET) by PETase-like enzymes and MHETases. The role of MHETases is to hydrolyze the intermediate degradation product of PET, mono-2-hydroxyethyl terephthalate (MHET) to its monomers. We recently identified a homolog of the MHETase of the PET-degrading bacterium Ideonella sakaiensis, Mle046, from a marine microbial consortium. In this consortium, Mle046 was highly expressed when a PBAT-based blend film (PF) was supplied as the sole carbon source. In this study, we recombinantly expressed and biochemically characterized Mle046 under different conditions. Mle046 degrades MHET but also 4-(4-hydroxybutoxycarbonyl) benzoic acid (Bte), the intermediate of PF degradation. Mle046 is a mesophilic enzyme adapted to marine conditions, which rapidly degrades MHET to terephthalate and ethylene glycol at temperatures between 20 and 40°C. Mle046 degradation rates were similar for Bte and MHET. Despite its mesophilic tendency, Mle046 retains a considerable amount of activity at temperatures ranging from 10 to 60°C. In addition, Mle046 is active at a range of pH values from 6.5 to 9. These characteristics make Mle046 a promising candidate for biotechnological applications related to plastic recycling.

A Novel Freshwater to Marine Evolutionary Transition Revealed within Methylophilaceae Bacteria from the Arctic Ocean

Bacteria inhabiting polar oceans, particularly the Arctic Ocean, are less studied than those at lower latitudes. Discovering bacterial adaptations to Arctic Ocean conditions is essential for understanding responses to the accelerated environmental changes occurring in the North. The Methylophilaceae are emerging as a model for investigating the genomic basis of habitat adaptation, because related lineages are widely distributed across both freshwater and marine ecosystems. Here, we investigated Methylophilaceae diversity in the salinity-stratified surface waters of the Canada Basin, Arctic Ocean. In addition to a diversity of marine OM43 lineages, we report on the genomic characteristics and evolution of a previously undescribed Methylophilaceae clade (BS01) common to polar surface waters yet related to freshwater sediment Methylotenera species. BS01 is restricted to the lower-salinity surface waters, while OM43 is found throughout the halocline. An acidic proteome supports a marine lifestyle for BS01, but gene content shows increased metabolic versatility compared to OM43 and evidence for ongoing genome-streamlining. Phylogenetic reconstruction shows that BS01 colonized the pelagic ocean independently of OM43 via convergent evolution. Salinity adaptation and differences in one-carbon and nitrogen metabolism may play a role in niche differentiation between BS01 and OM43. In particular, urea utilization by BS01 is predicted to provide an ecological advantage over OM43 given the limited amount of inorganic nitrogen in the Canada Basin. These observations provide further evidence that the Arctic Ocean is inhabited by distinct bacterial groups and that at least one group (BS01) evolved via a freshwater to marine environmental transition.

Organic Matter Composition at Ocean Station Papa Affects Its Bioavailability, Bacterioplankton Growth Efficiency and the Responding Taxa

The bioavailability of organic matter (OM) to marine heterotrophic bacterioplankton is determined by both the chemical composition of OM and the microbial community composition. In the current study, changes in OM bioavailability were identified at Ocean Station Papa as part of the 2018 Export Processes in the Ocean from Remote Sensing (EXPORTS) field study. Removal rates of carbon (C) in controlled experiments were significantly correlated with the initial composition of total hydrolyzable amino acids, and C removal rates were high when the amino acid degradation index suggested a more labile composition. Carbon remineralization rates averaged 0.19 ± 0.08 μmol C L-1 d-1 over 6-10 days while bacterial growth efficiencies averaged 31 ± 7%. Amino acid composition and tandem mass spectrometry analysis of compound classes also revealed transformations to a more degraded OM composition during experiments. There was a log2-fold increase in the relative abundances of 16S rDNA-resolved bacterioplankton taxa in most experiments by members of the Methylophilaceae family (OM43 genus) and KI89A order. Additionally, when OM was more bioavailable, relative abundances increased by at least threefold for the classes Bacteroidetes (Flavobacteriaceae NS2b genus), Alphaproteobacteria (Rhodobacteraceae Sulfitobacter genus), and Gammaproteobacteria (Alteromonadales and Ectothiorhodospiraceae orders). Our data suggest that a diverse group of bacterioplankton was responsible for removing organic carbon and altering the OM composition to a more degraded state. Elevated community diversity, as inferred from the Shannon-Wiener H index, may have contributed to relatively high growth efficiencies by the bacterioplankton. The data presented here shed light on the interconnections between OM bioavailability and key bacterioplankton taxa for the degradation of marine OM.

Molecular Basis for Substrate Recognition and Catalysis by a Marine Bacterial Laminarinase

Laminarin is an abundant algal polysaccharide that serves as carbon storage and fuel to meet the nutrition demands of heterotrophic microbes. Laminarin depolymerization catalyzed by microbial extracellular enzymes initiates remineralization, a key process in ocean biogeochemical cycles. Here, we described a glycoside hydrolase 16 (GH16) family laminarinase from a marine alga-associated Flavobacterium at the biochemical and structural levels. We found that the endolytic enzyme cleaved laminarin with a preference for β-1,3-glycoside linkages and showed transglycosylation activity across a broad range of acceptors. We also solved and compared high-resolution crystal structures of laminarinase in the apo form and in complex with β-1,3-tetrasaccharides, revealing an expanded catalytic cleft formed following substrate binding. Moreover, structure and mutagenesis studies identified multiple specific contacts between the enzyme and glucosyl residues essential for the substrate specificity for β-1,3-glucan. These results provide novel insights into the structural requirements for substrate binding and catalysis of GH16 family laminarinase, enriching our understanding of bacterial utilization of algal laminarin.IMPORTANCE Heterotrophic bacterial communities are key players in marine biogeochemical cycling due to their ability to remineralize organic carbon. Processing of complex organic matter requires heterotrophic bacteria to produce extracellular enzymes with precise specificity to depolymerize substrates to sizes sufficiently small for uptake. Thus, extracellular enzymatic hydrolysis initiates microbe-driven heterotrophic carbon cycling. In this study, based on biochemical and structural analyses, we revealed the depolymerization mechanism of β-1,3-glucan, a carbon reserve in algae, by laminarinase from an alga-associated marine Flavobacterium The findings provide new insights into the substrate recognition and catalysis of bacterial laminarinase and promote a better understanding of how extracellular enzymes are involved in organic matter cycling.

Expanding the Diversity of Bacterioplankton Isolates and Modeling Isolation Efficacy with Large-Scale Dilution-to-Extinction Cultivation

Even before the coining of the term “great plate count anomaly” in the 1980s, scientists had noted the discrepancy between the number of microorganisms observed under the microscope and the number of colonies that grew on traditional agar media. New cultivation approaches have reduced this disparity, resulting in the isolation of some of the “most wanted” bacterial lineages. Nevertheless, the vast majority of microorganisms remain uncultured, hampering progress toward answering fundamental biological questions about many important microorganisms. Furthermore, few studies have evaluated the underlying factors influencing cultivation success, limiting our ability to improve cultivation efficacy. Our work details the use of dilution-to-extinction (DTE) cultivation to expand the phylogenetic and geographic diversity of available axenic cultures. We also provide a new model of the DTE approach that uses cultivation results and natural abundance information to predict taxon-specific viability and iteratively constrain DTE experimental design to improve cultivation success.

Cultivated bacterioplankton representatives from diverse lineages and locations are essential for microbiology, but the large majority of taxa either remain uncultivated or lack isolates from diverse geographic locales. We paired large-scale dilution-to-extinction (DTE) cultivation with microbial community analysis and modeling to expand the phylogenetic and geographic diversity of cultivated bacterioplankton and to evaluate DTE cultivation success. Here, we report results from 17 DTE experiments totaling 7,820 individual incubations over 3 years, yielding 328 repeatably transferable isolates. Comparison of isolates to microbial community data for source waters indicated that we successfully isolated 5% of the observed bacterioplankton community throughout the study; 43% and 26% of our isolates matched operational taxonomic units and amplicon single-nucleotide variants, respectively, within the top 50 most abundant taxa. Isolates included those from previously uncultivated clades such as SAR11 LD12 and Actinobacteria acIV, as well as geographically novel members from other ecologically important groups like SAR11 subclade IIIa, SAR116, and others, providing isolates in eight putatively new genera and seven putatively new species. Using a newly developed DTE cultivation model, we evaluated taxon viability by comparing relative abundance with cultivation success. The model (i) revealed the minimum attempts required for successful isolation of taxa amenable to growth on our media and (ii) identified possible subpopulation viability variation in abundant taxa such as SAR11 that likely impacts cultivation success. By incorporating viability in experimental design, we can now statistically constrain the effort necessary for successful cultivation of specific taxa on a defined medium.

IMPORTANCE Even before the coining of the term “great plate count anomaly” in the 1980s, scientists had noted the discrepancy between the number of microorganisms observed under the microscope and the number of colonies that grew on traditional agar media. New cultivation approaches have reduced this disparity, resulting in the isolation of some of the “most wanted” bacterial lineages. Nevertheless, the vast majority of microorganisms remain uncultured, hampering progress toward answering fundamental biological questions about many important microorganisms. Furthermore, few studies have evaluated the underlying factors influencing cultivation success, limiting our ability to improve cultivation efficacy. Our work details the use of dilution-to-extinction (DTE) cultivation to expand the phylogenetic and geographic diversity of available axenic cultures. We also provide a new model of the DTE approach that uses cultivation results and natural abundance information to predict taxon-specific viability and iteratively constrain DTE experimental design to improve cultivation success.

Construction of Simplified Microbial Consortia to Degrade Recalcitrant Materials Based on Enrichment and Dilution-to-Extinction Cultures

The capacity of microbes to degrade recalcitrant materials has been extensively explored for environmental remediation and industrial production. Significant achievements have been made with single strains, but focus is now going toward the use of microbial consortia owning to their functional stability and efficiency. However, assembly of simplified microbial consortia (SMC) from complex environmental communities is still far from trivial due to large diversity and the effect of biotic interactions. Here we propose a strategy, based on enrichment and dilution-to-extinction cultures, to construct SMC with reduced diversity for degradation of keratinous materials. Serial dilutions were performed on a keratinolytic microbial consortium pre-enriched from a soil sample, monitoring the dilution effect on community growth and enzymatic activities. An appropriate dilution regime (10-9) was selected to construct a SMC library from the enriched microbial consortium. Further sequencing analysis and keratinolytic activity assays demonstrated that obtained SMC displayed actual reduced microbial diversity, together with various taxonomic composition, and biodegradation capabilities. More importantly, several SMC possessed equivalent levels of keratinolytic efficiency compared to the initial consortium, showing that simplification can be achieved without loss of function and efficiency. This methodology is also applicable to other types of recalcitrant material degradation involving microbial consortia, thus considerably broadening its application scope.

Distinct Coastal Microbiome Populations Associated With Autochthonous- and Allochthonous-Like Dissolved Organic Matter

Coastal zones are important transitional areas between the land and sea, where both terrestrial and phytoplankton supplied dissolved organic matter (DOM) are respired or transformed. As climate change is expected to increase river discharge and water temperatures, DOM from both allochthonous and autochthonous sources is projected to increase. As these transformations are largely regulated by bacteria, we analyzed microbial community structure data in relation to a 6-month long time-series dataset of DOM characteristics from Roskilde Fjord and adjacent streams, Denmark. The results showed that the microbial community composition in the outer estuary (closer to the sea) was largely associated with salinity and nutrients, while the inner estuary formed two clusters linked to either nutrients plus allochthonous DOM or autochthonous DOM characteristics. In contrast, the microbial community composition in the streams was found to be mainly associated with allochthonous DOM characteristics. A general pattern across the land-to-sea interface was that Betaproteobacteria were strongly associated with humic-like DOM [operational taxonomic units (OTUs) belonging to family Comamonadaceae], while distinct populations were instead associated with nutrients or abiotic variables such as temperature (Cyanobacteria genus Synechococcus) and salinity (Actinobacteria family Microbacteriaceae). Furthermore, there was a stark shift in the relative abundance of OTUs between stream and marine stations. This indicates that as DOM travels through the land-to-sea interface, different bacterial guilds continuously degrade it.

Mini-review: Phytoplankton-derived polysaccharides in the marine environment and their interactions with heterotrophic bacteria

Within the wealth of molecules constituting marine dissolved organic matter, carbohydrates make up the largest coherent and quantifiable fraction. Their main sources are from primary producers, which release large amounts of photosynthetic products - mainly polysaccharides - directly into the surrounding water via passive and active exudation. The organic carbon and other nutrients derived from these photosynthates enrich the 'phycosphere' and attract heterotrophic bacteria. The rapid uptake and remineralization of dissolved free monosaccharides by heterotrophic bacteria account for the barely detectable levels of these compounds. By contrast, dissolved combined polysaccharides can reach high concentrations, especially during phytoplankton blooms. Polysaccharides are too large to be taken up directly by heterotrophic bacteria, instead requiring hydrolytic cleavage to smaller oligo- or monomers by bacteria with a suitable set of exoenzymes. The release of diverse polysaccharides by various phytoplankton taxa is generally interpreted as the deposition of excess organic material. However, these molecules likely also fulfil distinct, yet not fully understood functions, as inferred from their active modulation in terms of quality and quantity when phytoplankton becomes nutrient limited or is exposed to heterotrophic bacteria. This minireview summarizes current knowledge regarding the exudation and composition of phytoplankton-derived exopolysaccharides and acquisition of these compounds by heterotrophic bacteria.

Isolation and Characterization of Bacteria That Degrade Phosphonates in Marine Dissolved Organic Matter

Semi-labile dissolved organic matter (DOM) accumulates in surface waters of the oligotrophic ocean gyres and turns over on seasonal to annual timescales. This reservoir of DOM represents an important source of carbon, energy, and nutrients to marine microbial communities but the identity of the microorganisms and the biochemical pathways underlying the cycling of DOM remain largely uncharacterized. In this study we describe bacteria isolated from the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre (NPSG) near Hawaii that are able to degrade phosphonates associated with high molecular weight dissolved organic matter (HMWDOM), which represents a large fraction of semi-labile DOM. We amended dilution-to-extinction cultures with HMWDOM collected from NPSG surface waters and with purified HMWDOM enriched with polysaccharides bearing alkylphosphonate esters. The HMWDOM-amended cultures were enriched in Roseobacter isolates closely related to Sulfitobacter and close relatives of hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria of the Oceanospirillaceae family, many of which encoded phosphonate degradation pathways. Sulfitobacter cultures encoding C-P lyase were able to catabolize methylphosphonate and 2-hydroxyethylphosphonate, as well as the esters of these phosphonates found in native HMWDOM polysaccharides to acquire phosphorus while producing methane and ethylene, respectively. Conversely, growth of these isolates on HMWDOM polysaccharides as carbon source did not support robust increases in cell yields, suggesting that the constituent carbohydrates in HMWDOM were not readily available to these individual isolates. We postulate that the complete remineralization of HMWDOM polysaccharides requires more complex microbial inter-species interactions. The degradation of phosphonate esters and other common substitutions in marine polysaccharides may be key steps in the turnover of marine DOM.

Allochthonous carbon is a major driver of the microbial food web - A mesocosm study simulating elevated terrestrial matter runoff

Climate change predictions indicate that coastal and estuarine environments will receive increased terrestrial runoff via increased river discharge. This discharge transports allochthonous material, containing bioavailable nutrients and light attenuating matter. Since light and nutrients are important drivers of basal production, their relative and absolute availability have important consequences for the base of the aquatic food web, with potential ramifications for higher trophic levels. Here, we investigated the effects of shifts in terrestrial organic matter and light availability on basal producers and their grazers. In twelve Baltic Sea mesocosms, we simulated the effects of increased river runoff alone and in combination. We manipulated light (clear/shade) and carbon (added/not added) in a fully factorial design, with three replicates. We assessed microzooplankton grazing preferences in each treatment to assess whether increased terrestrial organic matter input would: (1) decrease the phytoplankton to bacterial biomass ratio, (2) shift microzooplankton diet from phytoplankton to bacteria, and (3) affect microzooplankton biomass. We found that carbon addition, but not reduced light levels per se resulted in lower phytoplankton to bacteria biomass ratios. Microzooplankton generally showed a strong feeding preference for phytoplankton over bacteria, but, in carbon-amended mesocosms which favored bacteria, microzooplankton shifted their diet towards bacteria. Furthermore, low total prey availability corresponded with low microzooplankton biomass and the highest bacteria/phytoplankton ratio. Overall our results suggest that in shallow coastal waters, modified with allochthonous matter from river discharge, light attenuation may be inconsequential for the basal producer balance, whereas increased allochthonous carbon, especially if readily bioavailable, favors bacteria over phytoplankton. We conclude that climate change induced shifts at the base of the food web may alter energy mobilization to and the biomass of microzooplankton grazers.

Functional Gene Diversity and Metabolic Potential of the Microbial Community in an Estuary-Shelf Environment

Microbes play crucial roles in various biogeochemical processes in the ocean, including carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) cycling. Functional gene diversity and the structure of the microbial community determines its metabolic potential and therefore its ecological function in the marine ecosystem. However, little is known about the functional gene composition and metabolic potential of bacterioplankton in estuary areas. The East China Sea (ECS) is a dynamic marginal ecosystem in the western Pacific Ocean that is mainly affected by input from the Changjiang River and the Kuroshio Current. Here, using a high-throughput functional gene microarray (GeoChip), we analyzed the functional gene diversity, composition, structure, and metabolic potential of microbial assemblages in different ECS water masses. Four water masses determined by temperature and salinity relationship showed different patterns of functional gene diversity and composition. Generally, functional gene diversity [Shannon–Weaner’s H and reciprocal of Simpson’s 1/(1-D)] in the surface water masses was higher than that in the bottom water masses. The different presence and proportion of functional genes involved in C, N, and P cycling among the bacteria of the different water masses showed different metabolic preferences of the microbial populations in the ECS. Genes involved in starch metabolism (amyA and nplT) showed higher proportion in microbial communities of the surface water masses than of the bottom water masses. In contrast, a higher proportion of genes involved in chitin degradation was observed in microorganisms of the bottom water masses. Moreover, we found a higher proportion of nitrogen fixation (nifH), transformation of hydroxylamine to nitrite (hao) and ammonification (gdh) genes in the microbial communities of the bottom water masses compared with those of the surface water masses. The spatial variation of microbial functional genes was significantly correlated with salinity, temperature, and chlorophyll based on canonical correspondence analysis, suggesting a significant influence of hydrologic conditions on water microbial communities. Our data provide new insights into better understanding of the functional potential of microbial communities in the complex estuarine-coastal environmental gradient of the ECS.

Differential responses of marine, mesohaline and oligohaline bacterial communities to the addition of terrigenous carbon

In response to global warming, increasing quantities of tDOM are transported through estuaries from land to the sea. In this study, we investigated microbial responses to increased tDOM concentrations in three salinity regimes (salinity: 32, 7 and 3) characteristic of the Baltic Sea. Mesocosm experiments performed in May and November revealed low (0-6%) dissolved organic carbon (DOC) utilisation. Molecular DOM analyses using ultrahigh-resolution mass spectrometry identified the terrigenous signal in the tDOM manipulation, but the molecular changes in DOM levels over the course of the experiment were subtle. However, tDOM had significant stimulatory effects on bacterial production in the oligohaline mesocosms. The shift in the bacterial community composition was especially prominent in the tDOM-amended marine and mesohaline mesocosms, but not in the oligohaline mesocosms after 7 and 11 days of incubation. These results suggested the inherent ability of oligohaline bacterial communities to adapt to high tDOM concentrations and therefore to use tDOM. The higher rates of bacterial activity and DOC removal in mesocosms containing UV-pretreated tDOM supported the increased bioavailability of photoinduced, modified tDOM. The overall low rates of microbial tDOM utilisation highlights the importance of abiotic factors in determining the distribution and dynamics of tDOM in estuaries.

Microbial communities of aquatic environments on Heard Island characterized by pyrotag sequencing and environmental data

Heard Island in the Southern Ocean is a biological hotspot that is suffering the effects of climate change. Significant glacier retreat has generated proglacial lagoons, some of which are open to the ocean. We used pyrotag sequencing of SSU rRNA genes and environmental data to characterize microorganisms from two pools adjacent to animal breeding areas, two glacial lagoons and Atlas Cove (marine site). The more abundant taxa included Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria, ciliates and picoflagellates (e.g. Micromonas), and relatively few Archaea. Seal Pool, which is rich in organic matter, was characterized by a heterotrophic degradative community, while the less eutrophic Atlas Pool had more eucaryotic primary producers. Brown Lagoon, with the lowest nutrient levels, had Eucarya and Bacteria predicted to be oligotrophs, possess small cell sizes, and have the ability to metabolize organic matter. The marine influence on Winston Lagoon was evident by its salinity and the abundance of marine-like Gammaproteobacteria, while also lacking typical marine eucaryotes indicating the system was still functioning as a distinct niche. This is the first microbiology study of Heard Island and revealed that communities are distinct at each location and heavily influenced by local environmental factors.

Molecular Fractionation of Dissolved Organic Matter in a Shallow Subterranean Estuary: The Role of the Iron Curtain

Iron that precipitates under aerobic conditions in natural aquatic systems scavenges dissolved organic matter (DOM) from solution. Subterranean estuaries (STEs) are of major importance for land-ocean biogeochemical fluxes. Their specific redox boundaries, coined the "iron curtain" due to the abundance of precipitated iron(III) (oxy)hydroxides, are hot spots for the removal and redissolution of iron, associated nutrients, and DOM. We used ultra-high-resolution electrospray ionization Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry to molecularly characterize the iron-coagulating fractions of 32 groundwater and seawater DOM samples along a salinity gradient from a shallow STE on Spiekeroog Island, North Sea, Germany, and linked our findings to trace metal and nutrient concentrations. We found systematic iron coagulation of large (>450 Da), oxygen-rich, and highly aromatic DOM molecules of terrestrial origin. The extent of coagulation increased with growing terrestrial influence along the salinity gradient. Our study is the first to show that the iron curtain may be capable of retaining terrigenous DOM fractions in marine sediments. We hypothesize that the iron curtain serves as an inorganic modulator for the supply of DOM from groundwaters to the sea, and that the STE has the potential to act as a temporal storage or even sink for terrigenous aromatic DOM compounds.

Quantitative Transcriptomics Reveals the Growth- and Nutrient-Dependent Response of a Streamlined Marine Methylotroph to Methanol and Naturally Occurring Dissolved Organic Matter

The members of the OM43 clade of Betaproteobacteria are abundant coastal methylotrophs with a range of carbon-utilizing capabilities. However, their underlying transcriptional and metabolic responses to shifting conditions or different carbon substrates remain poorly understood. We examined the transcriptional dynamics of OM43 isolate NB0046 subjected to various inorganic nutrient, vitamin, and carbon substrate regimes over different growth phases to (i) develop a quantitative model of its mRNA content; (ii) identify transcriptional markers of physiological activity, nutritional state, and carbon and energy utilization; and (iii) identify pathways involved in methanol or naturally occurring dissolved organic matter (DOM) metabolism. Quantitative transcriptomics, achieved through addition of internal RNA standards, allowed for analyses on a transcripts-per-cell scale. This streamlined bacterium exhibited substantial shifts in total mRNA content (ranging from 1,800 to 17 transcripts cell-1 in the exponential and deep stationary phases, respectively) and gene-specific transcript abundances (>1,000-fold increases in some cases), depending on the growth phase and nutrient conditions. Carbon metabolism genes exhibited substantial dynamics, including those for ribulose monophosphate, tricarboxylic acid (TCA), and proteorhodopsin, as well as methanol dehydrogenase (xoxF), which, while always the most abundant transcript, increased from 5 to 120 transcripts cell-1 when cultures were nutrient and vitamin amended. In the DOM treatment, upregulation of TCA cycle, methylcitrate cycle, vitamin, and organic phosphorus genes suggested a metabolic route for this complex mixture of carbon substrates. The genome-wide inventory of transcript abundances produced here provides insight into a streamlined marine bacterium's regulation of carbon metabolism and energy flow, providing benchmarks for evaluating the activity of OM43 populations in situ IMPORTANCE: Bacteria exert a substantial influence on marine organic matter flux, yet the carbon components targeted by specific bacterial groups, as well as how those groups' metabolic activities change under different conditions, are not well understood. Gene expression studies of model organisms can identify these responses under defined conditions, which can then be compared to environmental transcriptomes to elucidate in situ activities. This integration, however, is limited by the data's relative nature. Here, we report the fully quantitative transcriptome of a marine bacterium, providing a genome-wide survey of cellular transcript abundances and how they change with different states of growth, nutrient conditions, and carbon substrates. The results revealed the dynamic metabolic strategies this methylotroph has for processing both simple one-carbon compounds and the complex multicarbon substrates of naturally derived marine organic matter and provide baseline quantitative data for identifying their in situ activities and impact on the marine carbon cycle.

Interkingdom Cross-Feeding of Ammonium from Marine Methylamine-Degrading Bacteria to the Diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum

Methylamines occur ubiquitously in the oceans and can serve as carbon, nitrogen, and energy sources for heterotrophic bacteria from different phylogenetic groups within the marine bacterioplankton. Diatoms, which constitute a large part of the marine phytoplankton, are believed to be incapable of using methylamines as a nitrogen source. As diatoms are typically associated with heterotrophic bacteria, the hypothesis came up that methylotrophic bacteria may provide ammonium to diatoms by degradation of methylamines. This hypothesis was investigated with the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum and monomethylamine (MMA) as the substrate. Bacteria supporting photoautotrophic growth of P. tricornutum with MMA as the sole nitrogen source could readily be isolated from seawater. Two strains, Donghicola sp. strain KarMa, which harbored genes for both monomethylamine dehydrogenase and the N methylglutamate pathway, and Methylophaga sp. strain M1, which catalyzed MMA oxidation by MMA dehydrogenase, were selected for further characterization. While strain M1 grew with MMA as the sole substrate, strain KarMa could utilize MMA as a nitrogen source only when, e.g., glucose was provided as a carbon source. With both strains, release of ammonium was detected during MMA utilization. In coculture with P. tricornutum, strain KarMa supported photoautotrophic growth with 2 mM MMA to the same extent as with the equimolar amount of NH₄Cl. In coculture with strain M1, photoautotrophic growth of P. tricornutum was also supported, but to a much lower degree than by strain KarMa. This proof-of-principle study with a synthetic microbial community suggests that interkingdom cross-feeding of ammonium from methylamine-degrading bacteria is a contribution to phytoplankton growth which has been overlooked so far.

IMPORTANCE

Interactions between diatoms and heterotrophic bacteria are important for marine carbon cycling. In this study, a novel interaction is described. Bacteria able to degrade monomethylamine, which is a ubiquitous organic nitrogen compound in marine environments, can provide ammonium to diatoms. This interkingdom metabolite transfer enables growth under photoautotrophic conditions in coculture, which would not be possible in the respective monocultures. This proof-of-principle study calls attention to a so far overlooked contribution to phytoplankton growth.

Deciphering ocean carbon in a changing world

Dissolved organic matter (DOM) in the oceans is one of the largest pools of reduced carbon on Earth, comparable in size to the atmospheric CO2 reservoir. A vast number of compounds are present in DOM, and they play important roles in all major element cycles, contribute to the storage of atmospheric CO2 in the ocean, support marine ecosystems, and facilitate interactions between organisms. At the heart of the DOM cycle lie molecular-level relationships between the individual compounds in DOM and the members of the ocean microbiome that produce and consume them. In the past, these connections have eluded clear definition because of the sheer numerical complexity of both DOM molecules and microorganisms. Emerging tools in analytical chemistry, microbiology, and informatics are breaking down the barriers to a fuller appreciation of these connections. Here we highlight questions being addressed using recent methodological and technological developments in those fields and consider how these advances are transforming our understanding of some of the most important reactions of the marine carbon cycle.

Expansion of Cultured Bacterial Diversity by Large-Scale Dilution-to-Extinction Culturing from a Single Seawater Sample

High-throughput cultivation (HTC) based on a dilution-to-extinction method has been applied broadly to the cultivation of marine bacterial groups, which has often led to the repeated isolation of abundant lineages such as SAR11 and oligotrophic marine gammaproteobacteria (OMG). In this study, to expand the phylogenetic diversity of HTC isolates, we performed a large-scale HTC with a single surface seawater sample collected from the East Sea, the Western Pacific Ocean. Phylogenetic analyses of the 16S rRNA genes from 847 putative pure cultures demonstrated that some isolates were affiliated with not-yet-cultured clades, including the OPB35 and Puniceicoccaceae marine group of Verrucomicrobia and PS1 of Alphaproteobacteria. In addition, numerous strains were obtained from abundant clades, such as SAR11, marine Roseobacter clade, OMG (e.g., SAR92 and OM60), OM43, and SAR116, thereby increasing the size of available culture resources for representative marine bacterial groups. Comparison between the composition of HTC isolates and the bacterial community structure of the seawater sample used for HTC showed that diverse marine bacterial groups exhibited various growth capabilities under our HTC conditions. The growth response of many bacterial groups, however, was clearly different from that observed with conventional plating methods, as exemplified by numerous isolates of the SAR11 clade and Verrucomicrobia. This study showed that a large number of novel bacterial strains could be obtained by an extensive HTC from even a small number of samples.