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Abstract Increased stratification and mixed layer shoaling of the surface ocean resulting from warming can lead to exposure of marine dinitrogen (N2)‐fixing cyanobacteria to higher levels of inhibitory ultraviolet (UV) radiation. These same processes also reduce vertically advected supplies of the potentially limiting nutrient phosphorus (P) to N2fixers. It is currently unknown how UV inhibition and P limitation interact to affect the biogeochemical cycles of nitrogen and carbon in these biogeochemically critical microbes. We investigated the responses of the important and widespread marine N2‐fixing cyanobacteriaCrocosphaera(strain WH0005) andTrichodesmium(strains IMS 101 and GBR) to UV‐A and UV‐B under P‐replete and P‐limited conditions. Growth, N2fixation, and carbon dioxide (CO2) fixation rates ofTrichodesmiumIMS 101 andCrocosphaerawere negatively affected by UV exposure. This inhibition was greater forTrichodesmiumIMS 101 than forCrocosphaera, which fixes N2only during the night and so avoids direct UV damage. Negative effects of UV on both IMS 101 andCrocosphaerawere less in P‐limited cultures than in P‐replete cultures. In contrast, no UV inhibition was observed in GBR, regardless of P availability. UV inhibition was related to different amounts of UV‐absorbing compounds produced by these isolates. Responses to UV radiation and P availability interactions were taxon‐specific, but our results indicated that in general, UV radiation effects onTrichodesmiumandCrocosphaerarange from negative to neutral. UV inhibition and its interactions with P limitation may thus have a substantial influence on the present day and future nitrogen and carbon cycles of the ocean.
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Alphaproteobacteria facilitate Trichodesmium community trimethylamine utilization
Summary In the surface waters of the warm oligotrophic ocean, filaments and aggregated colonies of the nitrogen (N)‐fixing cyanobacteriumTrichodesmiumcreate microscale nutrient‐rich oases. These hotspots fuel primary productivity and harbour a diverse consortium of heterotrophs. Interactions with associated microbiota can affect the physiology ofTrichodesmium, often in ways that have been predicted to support its growth. Recently, it was found that trimethylamine (TMA), a globally abundant organic N compound, inhibits N2fixation in cultures ofTrichodesmiumwithout impairing growth rate, suggesting thatTrichodesmiumcan use TMA as an alternate N source. In this study,15N‐TMA DNA stable isotope probing (SIP) of aTrichodesmiumenrichment was employed to further investigate TMA metabolism and determine whether TMA‐N is incorporated directly or secondarily via cross‐feeding facilitated by microbial associates. Herein, we identify two members of the marineRoseobacterclade (MRC) of Alphaproteobacteria as the likely metabolizers of TMA and provide genomic evidence that they converted TMA into a more readily available form of N, e.g., ammonium (NH4+), which was subsequently used byTrichodesmiumand the rest of the community. The results implicate microbiome‐mediated carbon (C) and N transformations in modulating N2fixation and thus highlight the involvement of host‐associated heterotrophs in global biogeochemical cycling.
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- PAR ID:
- 10366651
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley-Blackwell
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Environmental Microbiology
- Volume:
- 23
- Issue:
- 11
- ISSN:
- 1462-2912
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: p. 6798-6810
- Size(s):
- p. 6798-6810
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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