Saturating relationship between phytoplankton growth rate and nutrient concentration explained by macromolecular allocation
Phytoplankton account for about a half of photosynthesis in the world, making them a key player in the ecological and biogeochemical systems. One of the key traits of phytoplankton is their growth rate because it indicates their productivity and affects their competitive capability. The saturating r...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2022-01-01
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| Series: | Current Research in Microbial Sciences |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666517422000645 |
| _version_ | 1811202166887546880 |
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| author | Jongsun Kim Gabrielle Armin Keisuke Inomura |
| author_facet | Jongsun Kim Gabrielle Armin Keisuke Inomura |
| author_sort | Jongsun Kim |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Phytoplankton account for about a half of photosynthesis in the world, making them a key player in the ecological and biogeochemical systems. One of the key traits of phytoplankton is their growth rate because it indicates their productivity and affects their competitive capability. The saturating relationship between phytoplankton growth rate and environmental nutrient concentration has been widely observed yet the mechanisms behind the relationship remain elusive. Here we use a mechanistic model and metadata of phytoplankton to show that the saturating relationship between growth rate and nitrate concentration can be interpreted by intracellular macromolecular allocation. At low nitrate levels, the diffusive nitrate transport linearly increases with the nitrate concentration, while the internal nitrogen requirement increases with the growth rate, leading to a non-linear increase in the growth rate with nitrate. This increased nitrogen requirement is due to the increased allocation to biosynthetic and photosynthetic molecules. The allocation to these molecules reaches a maximum at high nitrate concentration and the growth rate ceases to increase despite high nitrate availability due to carbon limitation. The produced growth rate and nitrate relationships are consistent with the data of phytoplankton across taxa. Our study provides a macromolecular interpretation of the widely observed growth-nutrient relationship and highlights that the key control of the phytoplankton growth exists within the cell. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-12T02:34:15Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-81a53c9b5ff94fc790c29aae69e4403e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2666-5174 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-12T02:34:15Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Current Research in Microbial Sciences |
| spelling | doaj.art-81a53c9b5ff94fc790c29aae69e4403e2022-12-22T03:51:36ZengElsevierCurrent Research in Microbial Sciences2666-51742022-01-013100167Saturating relationship between phytoplankton growth rate and nutrient concentration explained by macromolecular allocationJongsun Kim0Gabrielle Armin1Keisuke Inomura2School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Brownsville, TX, USA; Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, Narragansett, RI, USA; Corresponding author.Graduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, Narragansett, RI, USAGraduate School of Oceanography, University of Rhode Island, Narragansett, RI, USAPhytoplankton account for about a half of photosynthesis in the world, making them a key player in the ecological and biogeochemical systems. One of the key traits of phytoplankton is their growth rate because it indicates their productivity and affects their competitive capability. The saturating relationship between phytoplankton growth rate and environmental nutrient concentration has been widely observed yet the mechanisms behind the relationship remain elusive. Here we use a mechanistic model and metadata of phytoplankton to show that the saturating relationship between growth rate and nitrate concentration can be interpreted by intracellular macromolecular allocation. At low nitrate levels, the diffusive nitrate transport linearly increases with the nitrate concentration, while the internal nitrogen requirement increases with the growth rate, leading to a non-linear increase in the growth rate with nitrate. This increased nitrogen requirement is due to the increased allocation to biosynthetic and photosynthetic molecules. The allocation to these molecules reaches a maximum at high nitrate concentration and the growth rate ceases to increase despite high nitrate availability due to carbon limitation. The produced growth rate and nitrate relationships are consistent with the data of phytoplankton across taxa. Our study provides a macromolecular interpretation of the widely observed growth-nutrient relationship and highlights that the key control of the phytoplankton growth exists within the cell.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666517422000645Monod kineticsPhytoplanktonMacromolecular allocationNutrientGrowthProtein |
| spellingShingle | Jongsun Kim Gabrielle Armin Keisuke Inomura Saturating relationship between phytoplankton growth rate and nutrient concentration explained by macromolecular allocation Current Research in Microbial Sciences Monod kinetics Phytoplankton Macromolecular allocation Nutrient Growth Protein |
| title | Saturating relationship between phytoplankton growth rate and nutrient concentration explained by macromolecular allocation |
| title_full | Saturating relationship between phytoplankton growth rate and nutrient concentration explained by macromolecular allocation |
| title_fullStr | Saturating relationship between phytoplankton growth rate and nutrient concentration explained by macromolecular allocation |
| title_full_unstemmed | Saturating relationship between phytoplankton growth rate and nutrient concentration explained by macromolecular allocation |
| title_short | Saturating relationship between phytoplankton growth rate and nutrient concentration explained by macromolecular allocation |
| title_sort | saturating relationship between phytoplankton growth rate and nutrient concentration explained by macromolecular allocation |
| topic | Monod kinetics Phytoplankton Macromolecular allocation Nutrient Growth Protein |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666517422000645 |
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