Widespread occurrence and relevance of phosphate storage in foraminifera

Nicolaas Glock (), Julien Richirt, Christian Woehle, Christopher Algar, Maria Armstrong, Daniela Eichner, Hanna Firrincieli, Akiko Makabe, Anjaly Govindankutty Menon, Yoshiyuki Ishitani, Thomas Hackl, Raphaël Hubert-Huard, Markus Kienast, Yvonne Milker, André Mutzberg, Sha Ni, Satoshi Okada, Subhadeep Rakshit, Gerhard Schmiedl, Zvi Steiner, Akihiro Tame, Zhouling Zhang and Hidetaka Nomaki
Additional contact information
Nicolaas Glock: University of Hamburg
Julien Richirt: Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC)
Christian Woehle: Kiel University
Christopher Algar: Dalhousie University
Maria Armstrong: Dalhousie University
Daniela Eichner: University of Hamburg
Hanna Firrincieli: University of Hamburg
Akiko Makabe: Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC)
Anjaly Govindankutty Menon: University of Hamburg
Yoshiyuki Ishitani: Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC)
Thomas Hackl: Universität Hamburg
Raphaël Hubert-Huard: University of Hamburg
Markus Kienast: Dalhousie University
Yvonne Milker: University of Hamburg
André Mutzberg: GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel
Sha Ni: University of Hamburg
Satoshi Okada: Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC)
Subhadeep Rakshit: Dalhousie University
Gerhard Schmiedl: University of Hamburg
Zvi Steiner: GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel
Akihiro Tame: Marine Works Japan Ltd
Zhouling Zhang: GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel
Hidetaka Nomaki: Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC)

Nature, 2025, vol. 638, issue 8052, 1000-1006

Abstract: Abstract Foraminifera are ubiquitous marine protists that intracellularly accumulate phosphate1, an important macronutrient in marine ecosystems and in fertilizer potentially leaked into the ocean. Intracellular phosphate concentrations can be 100–1,000 times higher than in the surrounding water1. Here we show that phosphate storage in foraminifera is widespread, from tidal flats to the deep sea. The total amount of intracellular phosphate stored in the benthic foraminifer Ammonia confertitesta in the Wadden Sea during a bloom is as high as around 5% of the annual consumption of phosphorus (P) fertilizer in Germany. Budget calculations for the Southern North Sea and the Peruvian Oxygen Minimum Zone indicate that benthic foraminifera may buffer riverine P runoff for approximately 37 days at the Southern North Sea and for about 21 days at the Peruvian margin. This indicates that these organisms are probably relevant for marine P cycling—they potentially buffer anthropogenic eutrophication in coastal environments. Phosphate is stored as polyphosphate in cell organelles that are potentially acidocalcisomes. Their metabolic functions can range from regulation of osmotic pressure and intracellular pH to calcium and energy storage. In addition, storage of energetic P compounds, such as creatine phosphate and polyphosphate, is probably an adaptation of foraminifera to O2 depletion.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08431-8 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:638:y:2025:i:8052:d:10.1038_s41586-024-08431-8

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

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-08431-8

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 ().