In:
eLife, eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd, Vol. 5 ( 2016-04-07)
Abstract:
Small algae in the world's oceans remove about as much carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as land plants. These algae do not grow continuously, but often surge in numbers during temporary blooms. Such blooms can be large enough to be seen from space by satellites. The lifespan of algae within such blooms is short, and when they die, marine bacteria feed on the remnants, which releases much of the stored carbon dioxide. Much of an algal cell consists of different types of polysaccharides. These large molecules are essentially made from sugars linked together. Polysaccharides are varied molecules and can contain many different sugars that can be linked in a number of different ways. During algae blooms bacteria proliferate that are specialized in the degradation of these polysaccharides. In 2012, researchers reported how over the progression of an algae bloom different groups of marine bacteria bloomed in rapid succession. However, it remained unknown whether the same or different groups of bacteria respond to algae blooms at the same place from year to year, and whether or not these bacteria use the same enzymes to degrade the polysaccharides. Teeling, Fuchs et al. – who include many of the researchers from the 2012 study – now report on the analysis of a series of algae blooms that occurred in the southern North Sea between 2009 and 2012. The analysis is based on samples collected every week during the spring seasons, and shows that certain groups of related bacteria, known as clades, became common during each bloom. Teeling, Fuchs et al. also found indications that the clades that repeatedly occurred had similar sets of genes for degrading algal polysaccharides, but that the sets were different between the clades. These data suggest that there is a specialized bacterial community that together can degrade the complex mixture of algal polysaccharides during blooms. This community reappears each year with an unexpectedly low level of variation. Since different species of algae made up the blooms in each year, this finding suggests that the major polysaccharides in these algae are similar or even identical. Future work will focus on the specific activities of bacterial enzymes that are needed to degrade polysaccharides during algae blooms. Study of these enzymes in the laboratory will help to resolve, which polysaccharides are attacked in which manner, and to ultimately help to identify the most abundant algal polysaccharides. This will improve our current understanding of the carbon cycle in the world’s oceans.
Type of Medium:
Online Resource
ISSN:
2050-084X
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.11888.001
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.11888.002
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.11888.003
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.11888.004
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.11888.005
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.11888.006
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.11888.007
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.11888.008
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.11888.009
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.11888.010
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.11888.011
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.11888.012
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.11888.013
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.11888.014
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.11888.015
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.11888.016
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.11888.017
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.11888.018
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.11888.019
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.11888.020
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.11888.021
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.11888.056
DOI:
10.7554/eLife.11888.057
Language:
English
Publisher:
eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd
Publication Date:
2016
detail.hit.zdb_id:
2687154-3
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