The ultra-high affinity transport proteins of ubiquitous marine bacteria

Ben E. Clifton (), Uria Alcolombri, Gen-Ichiro Uechi, Colin J. Jackson and Paola Laurino ()
Additional contact information
Ben E. Clifton: Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University
Uria Alcolombri: Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Gen-Ichiro Uechi: Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University
Colin J. Jackson: Australian National University
Paola Laurino: Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University

Nature, 2024, vol. 634, issue 8034, 721-728

Abstract: Abstract SAR11 bacteria are the most abundant microorganisms in the surface ocean1 and have global biogeochemical importance2–4. To thrive in their competitive oligotrophic environment, these bacteria rely heavily on solute-binding proteins that facilitate uptake of specific substrates via membrane transporters5,6. The functions and properties of these transport proteins are key factors in the assimilation of dissolved organic matter and biogeochemical cycling of nutrients in the ocean, but they have remained largely inaccessible to experimental investigation. Here we performed genome-wide experimental characterization of all solute-binding proteins in a prototypical SAR11 bacterium, revealing specific functions and general trends in their properties that contribute to the success of SAR11 bacteria in oligotrophic environments. We found that the solute-binding proteins of SAR11 bacteria have extremely high binding affinity (dissociation constant >20 pM) and high binding specificity, revealing molecular mechanisms of oligotrophic adaptation. Our functional data have uncovered new carbon sources for SAR11 bacteria and enable accurate biogeographical analysis of SAR11 substrate uptake capabilities throughout the ocean. This study provides a comprehensive view of the substrate uptake capabilities of ubiquitous marine bacteria, providing a necessary foundation for understanding their contribution to assimilation of dissolved organic matter in marine ecosystems.

Date: 2024
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07924-w 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:634:y:2024:i:8034:d:10.1038_s41586-024-07924-w

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

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07924-w

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 ().