SAR11 bacteria linked to ocean anoxia and nitrogen loss

Despina Tsementzi, Jieying Wu, Samuel Deutsch, Sangeeta Nath, Luis M. Rodriguez-R, Andrew S. Burns, Piyush Ranjan, Neha Sarode, Rex R. Malmstrom, Cory C. Padilla, Benjamin K. Stone, Laura A. Bristow, Morten Larsen, Jennifer B. Glass, Bo Thamdrup, Tanja Woyke, Konstantinos T. Konstantinidis and Frank J. Stewart ()
Additional contact information
Despina Tsementzi: School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Ford Environmental Science & Technology Building
Jieying Wu: School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Ford Environmental Sciences & Technology Building
Samuel Deutsch: Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute
Sangeeta Nath: Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute
Luis M. Rodriguez-R: School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Ford Environmental Sciences & Technology Building
Andrew S. Burns: School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Ford Environmental Sciences & Technology Building
Piyush Ranjan: School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Ford Environmental Sciences & Technology Building
Neha Sarode: School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Ford Environmental Sciences & Technology Building
Rex R. Malmstrom: Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute
Cory C. Padilla: School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Ford Environmental Sciences & Technology Building
Benjamin K. Stone: Bowdoin College
Laura A. Bristow: Biochemistry Group, Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology
Morten Larsen: University of Southern Denmark
Jennifer B. Glass: School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Ford Environmental Sciences & Technology Building
Bo Thamdrup: University of Southern Denmark
Tanja Woyke: Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute
Konstantinos T. Konstantinidis: School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Ford Environmental Science & Technology Building
Frank J. Stewart: School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Ford Environmental Sciences & Technology Building

Nature, 2016, vol. 536, issue 7615, 179-183

Abstract: Abstract Bacteria of the SAR11 clade constitute up to one half of all microbial cells in the oxygen-rich surface ocean. SAR11 bacteria are also abundant in oxygen minimum zones (OMZs), where oxygen falls below detection and anaerobic microbes have vital roles in converting bioavailable nitrogen to N2 gas. Anaerobic metabolism has not yet been observed in SAR11, and it remains unknown how these bacteria contribute to OMZ biogeochemical cycling. Here, genomic analysis of single cells from the world’s largest OMZ revealed previously uncharacterized SAR11 lineages with adaptations for life without oxygen, including genes for respiratory nitrate reductases (Nar). SAR11 nar genes were experimentally verified to encode proteins catalysing the nitrite-producing first step of denitrification and constituted ~40% of OMZ nar transcripts, with transcription peaking in the anoxic zone of maximum nitrate reduction activity. These results link SAR11 to pathways of ocean nitrogen loss, redefining the ecological niche of Earth’s most abundant organismal group.

Date: 2016
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature19068 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:536:y:2016:i:7615:d:10.1038_nature19068

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/nature19068

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().