Survival of Prochlorococcus in extended darkness
Prochlorococcus is the smallest oxygenic phototroph in the ocean, where it can be found in great abundance throughout the euphotic zone in mid-latitude waters. Populations of this picocyanobacterium have been observed below the euphotic zone, but the viability of these cells is unclear. To explore t...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography
2017
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/111625 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2638-823X |
| _version_ | 1811092919762812928 |
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| author | Coe, Allison Ghizzoni, Julie LeGault, Kristen Nicole Biller, Steven Roggensack, Sara Chisholm, Sallie W |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Coe, Allison Ghizzoni, Julie LeGault, Kristen Nicole Biller, Steven Roggensack, Sara Chisholm, Sallie W |
| author_sort | Coe, Allison |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Prochlorococcus is the smallest oxygenic phototroph in the ocean, where it can be found in great abundance throughout the euphotic zone in mid-latitude waters. Populations of this picocyanobacterium have been observed below the euphotic zone, but the viability of these cells is unclear. To explore the tolerance of Prochlorococcus to extended light-deprivation, we subjected multiple strains of Prochlorococcus to varying periods of darkness and examined their ability to recover when placed back in the light. Some strains recovered after 35 h of darkness while others could not; this variability was not related to whether the strains were members of high- or low- light adapted ecotypes. The presence of a marine heterotroph, Alteromonas macleodii MIT1002, in the cultures extended their ability to survive prolonged darkness, in the most extreme case by 11 d. This could be attributed at least in part to the reduction of hydrogen peroxide in co-cultures, consistent with known roles of “helper bacteria” in detoxifying hydrogen peroxide, and this effect could be mimicked to some degree by the addition of a known hydrogen peroxide quencher, sodium pyruvate. The addition of glucose alone to the cultures provided marginal enhancement, but when both pyruvate and glucose were added together, all strains were able to survive longer in darkness than they were with only the heterotroph added. Thus, it appears that Prochlorococcus dark-survival depends on a multitude of factors. Limited analyses of Synechococcus suggest that its dark-survival capacity is longer than that of Prochlorococcus, for reasons that are not yet clear. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T15:34:57Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/111625 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T15:34:57Z |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publisher | Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1116252022-10-02T02:55:39Z Survival of Prochlorococcus in extended darkness Coe, Allison Ghizzoni, Julie LeGault, Kristen Nicole Biller, Steven Roggensack, Sara Chisholm, Sallie W Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Chisholm, S. W. Coe, Allison Ghizzoni, Julie LeGault, Kristen Nicole Biller, Steven Roggensack, Sara Chisholm, Sallie W Prochlorococcus is the smallest oxygenic phototroph in the ocean, where it can be found in great abundance throughout the euphotic zone in mid-latitude waters. Populations of this picocyanobacterium have been observed below the euphotic zone, but the viability of these cells is unclear. To explore the tolerance of Prochlorococcus to extended light-deprivation, we subjected multiple strains of Prochlorococcus to varying periods of darkness and examined their ability to recover when placed back in the light. Some strains recovered after 35 h of darkness while others could not; this variability was not related to whether the strains were members of high- or low- light adapted ecotypes. The presence of a marine heterotroph, Alteromonas macleodii MIT1002, in the cultures extended their ability to survive prolonged darkness, in the most extreme case by 11 d. This could be attributed at least in part to the reduction of hydrogen peroxide in co-cultures, consistent with known roles of “helper bacteria” in detoxifying hydrogen peroxide, and this effect could be mimicked to some degree by the addition of a known hydrogen peroxide quencher, sodium pyruvate. The addition of glucose alone to the cultures provided marginal enhancement, but when both pyruvate and glucose were added together, all strains were able to survive longer in darkness than they were with only the heterotroph added. Thus, it appears that Prochlorococcus dark-survival depends on a multitude of factors. Limited analyses of Synechococcus suggest that its dark-survival capacity is longer than that of Prochlorococcus, for reasons that are not yet clear. Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (Grant GBMF495) Simons Foundation (LIFE-337262) National Science Foundation (U.S.) (OCE-1153588) National Science Foundation (U.S.) (OCE-1356460) National Science Foundation (U.S.) (DBI-0424599) 2017-09-22T15:20:28Z 2017-09-22T15:20:28Z 2016-07 2016-03 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0024-3590 1939-5590 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/111625 Coe, Allison et al. “Survival ofProchlorococcusin Extended Darkness.” Limnology and Oceanography 61, 4 (May 2016): 1375–1388 © 2016 Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2638-823X en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/lno.10302 Limnology and Oceanography Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ application/pdf Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography Prof. Chisholm via Anne Graham |
| spellingShingle | Coe, Allison Ghizzoni, Julie LeGault, Kristen Nicole Biller, Steven Roggensack, Sara Chisholm, Sallie W Survival of Prochlorococcus in extended darkness |
| title | Survival of Prochlorococcus in extended darkness |
| title_full | Survival of Prochlorococcus in extended darkness |
| title_fullStr | Survival of Prochlorococcus in extended darkness |
| title_full_unstemmed | Survival of Prochlorococcus in extended darkness |
| title_short | Survival of Prochlorococcus in extended darkness |
| title_sort | survival of prochlorococcus in extended darkness |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/111625 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2638-823X |
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