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- Baltar, Federico, et al.
(author)
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High dissolved extracellular enzymatic activity in the deep Central Atlantic Ocean
- 2010
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In: Aquatic Microbial Ecology. - : Inter-Research Science Center. - 0948-3055 .- 1616-1564. ; 58:3, s. 287-302
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The distribution of prokaryotic abundance (PA), prokaryotic heterotrophic production (PHP), and suspended particulate organic material (POM), as well as total and dissolved (operationally defined as passing through 0.2 mu m pore size filters) potential extracellular enzymatic activities (EEA; alpha- and beta-glucosidase [AGase and BGase], leucine aminopeptidase [LAPase], and alkaline phosphatase [APase]) were determined in the meso- and bathypelagic waters of the (sub)tropical Atlantic along an eastern zonal transatlantic transect and a western N-S transect. Significant differences between both transects were found for POM concentration but not for PA, PHP (except in the subsurface and oxygen minimum layer), and dissolved and total EEA. PHP decreased by 3 orders of magnitude from the lower euphotic zone to bathypelagic waters, while PA and cell-specific PHP decreased only by 1 and 2 orders of magnitude, respectively. The proportion of the dissolved to the total EEA was high in the dark ocean for all the enzymes, ranging from 54 to 100, 56 to 100, 65 to 100 and 57 to 97 % for AGase, BGase, LAPase and APase, respectively. The kinetic parameters (V-max, and K-m) of both the dissolved and total fractions of LAPase and APase were very similar throughout the water column, suggesting a similar origin for both dissolved and particulate EEA. Significant correlations of both dissolved and total EEA were found with prokaryotic metabolism and the POM pool. Based on the previous notion that the fraction of dissolved EEA is higher in particle-attached than in free-living microbes, our results suggest that microbial activity in the dark ocean occurs mainly on colloidal and particulate material. This is in agreement with recent genomic evidence. However, these colloidal and particulate materials are prone to disruption during the sampling process. Hence, more selective sampling techniques are needed to specifically collect these deep-water aggregates that probably represent hotspots of microbial activity in the deep ocean.
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2. |
- Baltar, Federico, et al.
(author)
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Prokaryotic extracellular enzymatic activity in relation to biomass production and respiration in the meso- and bathypelagic waters of the (sub)tropical Atlantic
- 2009
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In: Environmental Microbiology. - : Wiley. - 1462-2912 .- 1462-2920. ; 11:8, s. 1998-2014
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- P>Prokaryotic extracellular enzymatic activity, abundance, heterotrophic production and respiration were determined in the meso- and bathypelagic (sub)tropical North Atlantic. While prokaryotic heterotrophic production (PHP) decreased from the lower euphotic layer to the bathypelagic waters by two orders of magnitude, prokaryotic abundance and cell-specific PHP decreased only by one order of magnitude. In contrast to cell-specific PHP, cell-specific extracellular enzymatic activity (alpha- and beta-glucosidase, leucine aminopeptidase, alkaline phosphatase) increased with depth as did cell-specific respiration rates. Cell-specific alkaline phosphatase activity increased from the intermediate water masses to the deep waters up to fivefold. Phosphate concentrations, however, varied only by a factor of two between the different water masses, indicating that phosphatase activity is not related to phosphate availability in the deep waters. Generally, cell-specific extracellular enzymatic activities were inversely related to cell-specific prokaryotic leucine incorporation. Thus, it is apparent that the utilization of deep ocean organic matter is linked to higher cell-specific extracellular enzymatic activity and respiration and lower cell-specific PHP than in surface waters.
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