Prochlorococcus as a Possible Source for Transparent Exopolymer Particles (TEP)

Iuculano, Francesca; Mazuecos, Ignacio P.; Reche, Isabel; Agustı́, Susana

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2017.00709

Cited by 41 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…Although no previous information on TEP distribution exists for this area, previous studies in similarly productive areas or during phytoplankton blooms already observed high TEP concentrations (Long and Azam, 1996;Harlay et al, 2009;Klein et al, 2011). The TEP levels we measured at the SWAS are generally within the range of those reported for coastal areas Riebesell et al, 1995;Kiorboe et al, 1996;Hong et al, 1997;Jähmlich et al, 1998;Wild, 2000;Ramaiah et al, 2001;Engel et al, 2002b;García et al, 2002;Radic et al, 2005;Scoullos et al, 2006;Sugimoto et al, 2007;Harlay et al, 2009Harlay et al, , 2010Wurl et al, 2009;Fukao et al, 2011;Klein et al, 2011;Sun et al, 2012;Van Oostende et al, 2012;Dreshchinskii and Engel, 2017;Jennings et al, 2017). Only two studies, in the western Baltic Sea and the Dona Paula Bay (Arabian Sea), reported TEP levels higher than ours (Engel, 2000;Bhaskar and Bhosle, 2006).…”

Section: Teps Across the Surface Atlantic Oceansupporting

confidence: 52%

Main drivers of transparent exopolymer particle distribution across the surface Atlantic Ocean

Zamanillo¹,

Ortega−Retuerta

Nunes³

et al. 2019

Biogeosciences

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Abstract. Transparent exopolymer particles (TEPs) are a class of gel particles, produced mainly by microorganisms, which play important roles in biogeochemical processes such as carbon cycling and export. TEPs (a) are colonized by carbon-consuming microbes; (b) mediate aggregation and sinking of organic matter and organisms, thereby contributing to the biological carbon pump; and (c) accumulate in the surface microlayer (SML) and affect air–sea gas exchange. The first step to evaluate the global influence of TEPs in these processes is the prediction of TEP occurrence in the ocean. Yet, little is known about the physical and biological variables that drive their abundance, particularly in the open ocean. Here we describe the horizontal TEP distribution, along with physical and biological variables, in surface waters along a north–south transect in the Atlantic Ocean during October–November 2014. Two main regions were separated due to remarkable differences: the open Atlantic Ocean (OAO, n=30), and the Southwestern Atlantic Shelf (SWAS, n=10). TEP concentration in the entire transect ranged 18.3–446.8 µg XG eq L−1 and averaged 117.1±119.8 µg XG eq L−1, with the maximum concentrations in the SWAS and in a station located at the edge of the Canary Coastal Upwelling (CU), and the highest TEP to chlorophyll a (TEP:Chl a) ratios in the OAO (183±56) and CU (1760). TEPs were significantly and positively related to Chl a and phytoplankton biomass, expressed in terms of C, along the entire transect. In the OAO, TEPs were positively related to some phytoplankton groups, mainly Synechococcus. They were negatively related to the previous 24 h averaged solar irradiance, suggesting that sunlight, particularly UV radiation, is more a sink than a source for TEP. Multiple regression analyses showed the combined positive effect of phytoplankton and heterotrophic prokaryotes (HPs) on TEP distribution in the OAO. In the SWAS, TEPs were positively related to high nucleic acid-containing prokaryotic cells and total phytoplankton biomass, but not to any particular phytoplankton group. Estimated TEP–carbon constituted an important portion of the particulate organic carbon pool in the entire transect (28 %–110 %), generally higher than the phytoplankton and HP carbon shares, which highlights the importance of TEPs in the cycling of organic matter in the ocean.

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Section: Teps Across the Surface Atlantic Oceansupporting

confidence: 52%

Main drivers of transparent exopolymer particle distribution across the surface Atlantic Ocean

Zamanillo¹,

Ortega−Retuerta

Nunes³

et al. 2019

Biogeosciences

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“…In addition to the low molecular weight carboxylic acids identified in these analyses ( Fig. 4A), experiments suggest that Synechococcus and Prochlorococcus also excrete significant amounts of polysaccharides and other high molecular weight compounds [132][133][134]. Understanding what drove Prochlorococcus' metabolic innovations (Fig.…”

mentioning

confidence: 83%

“…For example, since iron is insoluble under aerobic conditions [114,115] and some compounds Prochlorococcus excretes (carboxylic acids, polysaccharides) are known ironchelators [66,122,123], it is tempting to conclude that increasing access to iron was a direct driver of its evolution. Similarly, many oceanic microbes require complex nutrient additions to grow [134,135], raising the possibility that interactions with sympatric heterotrophs drove Prochlorococcus' innovations. However, both of these scenarios involve extracellular sharing of resources among community members and it is thought such mutualisms can only evolve when physical colocation of cells ensures transmission of resource benefits from parents to offspring [137][138][139].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolution of cellular metabolism and the rise of a globally productive biosphere

Braakman

2019

Preprint

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The metabolic processes of cells and chemical processes in the environment are fundamentally intertwined and have evolved in concert over billions of years. Here I argue that intrinsic properties of cellular metabolism imposed central constraints on the historical trajectories of biopsheric productivity and atmospheric oxygenation. Photosynthesis depends on iron, but iron is highly insoluble under the aerobic conditions produced by oxygenic photosynthesis. These counteracting constraints led to two major stages of Earth oxygenation. Cyanobacterial photosynthesis drove a major biospheric expansion near the Archean-Proterozoic boundary but subsequently remained largely restricted to continental boundaries and shallow aquatic environments, where weathering inputs made iron more accessible. The anoxic deep open ocean was rich in free iron during the Proterozoic, but this iron remained effectively inaccessible since a photosynthetic expansion would have quenched its own supply. Near the Proterozoic-Phanerozoic boundary, bioenergetic innovations allowed eukaryotic photosynthesis to expand into the deep open oceans and onto the continents, where nutrients are inherently harder to come by. Key insights into the ecological rise of eukaryotic photosynthesis emerge from analyses of marine Synechococcus and Prochlorococcus, abundant marine picocyanobacteria whose ancestors colonized the oceans in the Neoproterozoic. The reconstructed evolution of Prochlorococcus reveals a sequence of innovations that ultimately produced a form of photosynthesis more like that of green plant cells than other cyanobacteria. Innovations increased the energy flux of cells, thereby enhancing their ability to acquire sparse nutrients, and as by-product also increased the production of organic carbon waste. Some of these organic waste products in turn had the ability to chelate iron and make it bioavailable, thereby indirectly pushing the oceans through a transition from an anoxic state rich in free iron to an oxygenated state with organic carbon-bound iron. The periods of Earth history around cyanobacteria- and eukaryote-driven biospheric expansions share several other parallels. Both epochs have also been linked to major carbon cycle perturbations and global glaciations, as well as changes in the nature of mantle convection and plate tectonics. This suggests the dynamics of life and Earth are intimately intertwined across many levels and that general principles governed Neoarchean and Neoproterozoic transitions in these coupled dynamics.

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“…Other organisms such as Posidonia oceanica (Iuculano et al, 2017a), zooplankton (Passow and Alldredge, 1999;Prieto et al, 2001) and benthic suspension feeders (Heinonen et al, 2007) have also been identified as TEP producers. TEP sources and sinks in the ocean depend not only on the taxonomic composition of TEP producers, but they are also influenced by other variables such as the organism's physiological state (Passow, 2002b), the temperature (Nicolaus et al, 1999;Claquin et al, 2008), the light (Trabelsi et al, 2008;Ortega-Retuerta et al, 2009a;Iuculano et al, 2017b), the carbon dioxide concentration (Engel, 2002), the nutrient availability (Guerrini et al, 1998;Radic et al, 2006), the turbulence conditions (Passow, 2000(Passow, , 2002b or the viral infection (Shibata et al, 1997;Vardi et al, 2012). For example, limitation by nutrients often increases TEP production, due to dissolved inorganic carbon overconsumption (Corzo et al, 2000;Engel et al, 2002a;Schartau et al, 2007), and also impedes prokaryotic consumption of TEP (Bar-Zeev and Rahav, 2015); high solar radiation can stimulate TEP production by Prochlorococcus during cell Biogeosciences Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2018-359 Manuscript under review for journal Biogeosciences Discussion started: 21 August 2018 c Author(s) 2018.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Main drivers of transparent exopolymer particle distribution across the surface Atlantic Ocean

Zamanillo¹,

Ortega-Retuerta²,

Nunes³

et al. 2018

Preprint

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Abstract. Transparent exopolymer particles (TEP) are a class of gel particles produced mainly by microorganisms. TEP play an important role in the ocean carbon cycle, affect sea&#8211;air gas exchange and contribute to organic aerosols. The first step to evaluate the TEP influence in these processes is the prediction of TEP occurrence in the ocean. Yet, little is known about the physical and biological variables that control their abundance, particularly in the open ocean. Here we describe horizontal TEP distribution in the surface waters along a North&#8211;South transect in the Atlantic Ocean during October&#8211;November 2014. Physical and biological variables were run in parallel. Two main regions were separated due to remarkable differences; the open Atlantic Ocean (OAO, n&#8201;=&#8201;30), and the Southwestern Atlantic Shelf (SWAS, n&#8201;=&#8201;10). TEP concentration in the entire transect ranged from 18.3 to 446.8&#8201;&#181;g XG&#8201;eq&#8201;L&#8722;1 and averaged 117.1&#8201;&#177;&#8201;119.8&#8201;&#181;g XG&#8201;eq&#8201;L&#8722;1, with the maximum concentrations in the edge of the Canary Coastal Upwelling (CU, n&#8201;=&#8201;1) and the SWAS, but with the highest TEP to chlorophyll a (TEP&#8201;:&#8201;Chl a) ratios at the OAO (CU excluded, average 183&#8201;&#177;&#8201;56) and CU (1760.4). TEP were significantly and positively related to Chl a and phytoplankton biomass, expressed in terms of C, along the entire transect. In the OAO, TEP were positively related to some phytoplankton groups, mainly to Synechococcus, and negatively related to the previous 24&#8211;hours averaged solar radiation, suggesting the predominance of TEP breaking above the induction of TEP production by UV radiation. Multiple regression analyses showed the combined positive effect of phytoplankton and heterotrophic prokaryotes (HP) on TEP distribution in this region. In the SWAS, TEP were positively related to high nucleic acid prokaryotic cells (HNA) and total phytoplankton biomass, but not with any particular phytoplankton group. TEP constituted an important portion of the particulate organic carbon (POC) pool in the entire transect (28.1&#8211;109.8&#8201;%), and was generally higher than the phytoplankton and HP fraction, highlighting the importance of TEP in the cycle of organic matter in the ocean.

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Prochlorococcus as a Possible Source for Transparent Exopolymer Particles (TEP)

Cited by 41 publications

References 47 publications

Main drivers of transparent exopolymer particle distribution across the surface Atlantic Ocean

Main drivers of transparent exopolymer particle distribution across the surface Atlantic Ocean

Evolution of cellular metabolism and the rise of a globally productive biosphere

Main drivers of transparent exopolymer particle distribution across the surface Atlantic Ocean

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