Although marine chemists can accurately quantify both the concentration of dissolved iron (Fe) and the high-affinity organic ligands which complex Fe in surface waters, tools to characterize the relative bioavailability of such organically bound Fe complexes remain unavailable. In this study, we compared the bioavailability of Fe released from the lysis of the heterotrophic bacterium Vibrio natriegens PWH3a to that of Fe complexed to synthetic chelators (EDTA) and siderophores (including the trihydroxamate desferrioxamine B [DFB] and 2 catecholates isolated from Fe-limited heterotrophic bacterial cultures) using a heterotrophic bioluminescent reporter of Fe availability (Pseudomonas putida FeLux). Using the bioluminescent response of P. putida FeLux, we were able to rank the Fe sources tested here in a decreasing order of bioavailability: lysates > Fe-homologous catecholate (from a P. putida FeLux culture) ~ Fe-exogenous catecholate (from V. natriegens culture) > inorganic Fe (FeCl 3 , 15 nM) ~ Fe(III)' from EDTA-buffered treatment (pFe 18.12) > Fe:DFB, where pFe is -log [Fe 3+ ]. Combined with estimates of Fe assimilation of 55 Fe-labeled lysates, our data further demonstrate that organic Fe complexes released during virus-mediated cell lysis are ca. 1000 times more bioavailable and efficiently assimilated by bacterial cells than Fe(III)'. Our results validate the utilization of P. putida FeLux as a bioreporter of Fe-bioavailability and also support the assumption that virus activity plays a crucial role in the regeneration of biologically available Fe complexes in surface seawater.
KEY WORDS: Iron availability · Bioreporter · Heterotrophic bacteria · Siderophore · Virus lysates
Resale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisherAquat Microb Ecol 41: [233][234][235][236][237][238][239][240][241][242][243][244][245] 2005 these organic ligands in natural systems, recent experiments suggest that the chemical nature of these Fe complexes may influence competition between prokaryotes and eukaryotes (Hutchins et al. 1999a, Poorvin et al. 2004.The similarities between the stability constants ( Lewis et al. 1995, Rue & Bruland 1995 and structural groups (Martinez et al. 2003, Gledhill et al. 2004) of the natural organic Fe ligands and those for naturally produced siderophores has led to a surge of interest in the microbial component of the marine plankton assemblage. It has been demonstrated that marine heterotrophic bacteria account for as much as 50% of the biomass (and thus biogenic Fe) in oceanic systems (Tortell et al. 1999). Furthermore, bacteria contain significantly more Fe per biomass unit than phytoplankton and are responsible for significant Fe uptake in Fe-depleted seawaters (Tortell et al. 1996). In addition, although several studies have shown that bacterial productivity was co-limited by carbon and Fe (Church et al. 2000, Kirchman et al. 2000, other studies suggest that heterotrophic bacterial productivity may be directly Fe-limited at low, in situ concentra...