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Media type:
E-Article
Title:
Phosphonate production by marine microbes: Exploring new sources and potential function
Contributor:
Acker, Marianne;
Hogle, Shane L.;
Berube, Paul M.;
Hackl, Thomas;
Coe, Allison;
Stepanauskas, Ramunas;
Chisholm, Sallie W.;
Repeta, Daniel J.
Published:
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2022
Published in:
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 119 (2022) 11
Language:
English
DOI:
10.1073/pnas.2113386119
ISSN:
0027-8424;
1091-6490
Origination:
Footnote:
Description:
SignificancePhosphonates are a class of phosphorus metabolites characterized by a highly stable C-P bond. Phosphonates accumulate to high concentrations in seawater, fuel a large fraction of marine methane production, and serve as a source of phosphorus to microbes inhabiting nutrient-limited regions of the oligotrophic ocean. Here, we show that 15% of all bacterioplankton in the surface ocean have genes phosphonate synthesis and that most belong to the abundant groupsProchlorococcusand SAR11. Genomic and chemical evidence suggests that phosphonates are incorporated into cell-surface phosphonoglycoproteins that may act to mitigate cell mortality by grazing and viral lysis. These results underscore the large global biogeochemical impact of relatively rare but highly expressed traits in numerically abundant groups of marine bacteria.