Dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) is an abundant organic sulfur metabolite produced by many phytoplankton species and degraded by bacteria via two distinct pathways with climate‐relevant implications. We assessed the diversity and abundance of bacteria possessing these pathways in the context of phytoplankton community composition over a 3‐week time period spanning September–October, 2014 in Monterey Bay, CA. The
The rapid turnover of dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP), likely the most relevant dissolved organic sulfur compound in the surface ocean, makes it pivotal to understand the cycling of organic sulfur. Dimethylsulfoniopropionate is mainly synthesized by phytoplankton, and it can be utilized as carbon and sulfur sources by marine bacteria or cleaved by bacteria or algae to produce the volatile compound dimethylsulfide (DMS), involved in the formation of sulfate aerosols. The fluxes between the consumption (i.e., demethylation) and cleavage pathways are thought to depend on community interactions and their sulfur demand. However, a quantitative assessment of the sulfur partitioning between each of these pathways is still missing. Here, we report for the first time the sulfur isotope fractionations by enzymes involved in DMSP degradation with different catalytic mechanisms, expressed heterologously in
- PAR ID:
- 10446357
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Limnology and Oceanography
- Volume:
- 66
- Issue:
- 10
- ISSN:
- 0024-3590
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- p. 3607-3618
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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Summary dmdA gene from the DMSP demethylation pathway dominated the DMSP gene pool and was harboured mostly by members of the alphaproteobacterial SAR11 clade and secondarily by the Roseobacter group, particularly during the second half of the study. Novel members of the DMSP‐degrading community emerged fromdmdA sequences recovered from metagenome assemblies and single‐cell sequencing, including largely uncharacterized gammaproteobacteria and alphaproteobacteria taxa. In the DMSP cleavage pathway, the SAR11 genedddK was the most abundant early in the study, but was supplanted bydddP over time. SAR11 members, especially those harbouring genes for both DMSP degradation pathways, had a strong positive relationship with the abundance of dinoflagellates, and DMSP‐degrading gammaproteobacteria co‐occurred with haptophytes. Thisin situ study of the drivers of DMSP fate in a coastal ecosystem demonstrates for the first time correlations between specific groups of bacterial DMSP degraders and phytoplankton taxa. -
Abstract The organic sulfur compound dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) is synthesized by numerous species of marine phytoplankton, and its volatile degradation products are a major source of biogenic sulfur to the atmosphere. A massive bloom of the dinoflagellate
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