Physiological ecology of cyanobacteria in microbial mats and other communities

Simultaneous measurement of denitrification and nitrogen fixation using isotope pairing with membrane inlet mass spectrometry analysis

A method for estimating denitrification and nitrogen fixation simultaneously in coastal sediments was developed. An isotope-pairing technique was applied to dissolved gas measurements with a membrane inlet mass spectrometer (MIMS). The relative fluxes of three N(2) gas species ((28)N(2), (29)N(2), and (30)N(2)) were monitored during incubation experiments after the addition of (15)NO(3)(-). Formulas were developed to estimate the production (denitrification) and consumption (N(2) fixation) of N(2) gas from the fluxes of the different isotopic forms of N(2). Proportions of the three isotopic forms produced from (15)NO(3)(-) and (14)NO(3)(-) agreed with expectations in a sediment slurry incubation experiment designed to optimize conditions for denitrification. Nitrogen fixation rates from an algal mat measured with intact sediment cores ranged from 32 to 390 microg-atoms of N m(-2) h(-1). They were enhanced by light and organic matter enrichment. In this environment of high nitrogen fixation, low N(2) production rates due to denitrification could be separated from high N(2) consumption rates due to nitrogen fixation. Denitrification and nitrogen fixation rates were estimated in April 2000 on sediments from a Texas sea grass bed (Laguna Madre). Denitrification rates (average, 20 microg-atoms of N m(-2) h(-1)) were lower than nitrogen fixation rates (average, 60 microg-atoms of N m(-2) h(-1)). The developed method benefits from simple and accurate dissolved-gas measurement by the MIMS system. By adding the N(2) isotope capability, it was possible to do isotope-pairing experiments with the MIMS system.

Monitoring of oxygenic and anoxygenic photosynthesis in a unicyanobacterial biofilm, grown in benthic gradient chamber

In order to assess the role of cyanobacteria in the formation and dynamics of microenvironments in microbial mats, we studied an experimental biofilm of a benthic, halotolerant strain, belonging to the Halothece cluster of cyanobacteria. The 12-week-old biofilm developed in a sand core incubated in a benthic gradient chamber under opposing oxygen and sulfide vertical concentration gradients. At the biofilm surface, and as a response to high light irradiances, specific accumulation of myxoxanthophyll was detected in the cells, consistent with the typical vertical distribution of sun versus shade species in nature. The oxygen turn-over in terms of gross photosynthesis and net productivity rates was comparable to oxygen dynamics in natural microbial mats. Sulfide blocked O(2) production at low irradiances in deep biofilm layers but the dynamics of H(2)S and pH demonstrated that sulfide removal by anoxygenic photosynthesis was taking place. At higher irradiances, as soon as H(2)S was depleted, the cells switched to oxygenic photosynthesis as has been postulated for natural communities. The similarities between this experimental biofilm and natural benthic microbial mats demonstrate the central role of cyanobacteria in shaping microenvironmental gradients and processes in other complex microbial communities.

Cyanobacterial sulfide-quinone reductase: cloning and heterologous expression

The gene encoding sulfide-quinone reductase (SQR; E.C.1.8.5.'), the enzyme catalyzing the first step of anoxygenic photosynthesis in the filamentous cyanobacterium Oscillatoria limnetica, was cloned by use of amino acid sequences of tryptic peptides as well as sequences conserved in the Rhodobacter capsulatus SQR and in an open reading frame found in the genome of Aquifex aeolicus. SQR activity was also detected in the unicellular cyanobacterium Aphanothece halophytica following sulfide induction, with a V(max) of 180 micromol of plastoquinone-1 (PQ-1) reduced/mg of chlorophyll/h and apparent K(m) values of 20 and 40 microM for sulfide and quinone, respectively. Based on the conserved sequences, the gene encoding A. halophytica SQR was also cloned. The SQR polypeptides deduced from the two cyanobacterial genes consist of 436 amino acids for O. limnetica SQR and 437 amino acids for A. halophytica SQR and show 58% identity and 74% similarity. The calculated molecular mass is about 48 kDa for both proteins; the theoretical isoelectric points are 7.7 and 5.6 and the net charges at a neutral pH are 0 and -14 for O. limnetica SQR and A. halophytica SQR, respectively. A search of databases showed SQR homologs in the genomes of the cyanobacterium Anabaena PCC7120 as well as the chemolithotrophic bacteria Shewanella putrefaciens and Thiobacillus ferrooxidans. All SQR enzymes contain characteristic flavin adenine dinucleotide binding fingerprints. The cyanobacterial proteins were expressed in Escherichia coli under the control of the T7 promoter. Membranes isolated from E. coli cells expressing A. halophytica SQR performed sulfide-dependent PQ-1 reduction that was sensitive to the quinone analog inhibitor 2n-nonyl-4-hydroxyquinoline-N-oxide. The wide distribution of SQR genes emphasizes the important role of SQR in the sulfur cycle in nature.

Anoxygenic photosynthesis and nitrogen fixation by a microbial mat community in a bahamian hypersaline lagoon

Simultaneous measurements of photosynthesis (both oxygenic and anoxygenic) and N(inf2) fixation were conducted to discern the relationships between photosynthesis, N(inf2) fixation, and environmental factors potentially regulating these processes in microbial mats in a tropical hypersaline lagoon (Salt Pond, San Salvador Island, Bahamas). Major photoautotrophs included cyanobacteria, purple phototrophic bacteria, and diatoms. Chemosystematic photopigments were used as indicators of the relative abundance of mat phototrophs. Experimental manipulations consisted of light and dark incubations of intact mat samples exposed to the photosystem II inhibitor DCMU [3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea], a dissolved organic carbon source (D-glucose), and normal seawater (37(permil)). Photosynthetic rates were measured by both O(inf2) and (sup14)C methods, and nitrogenase activity (NA) was estimated by the acetylene reduction assay. Moderate reductions in salinity (from 74 to 37(permil)) had no measurable effect on photosynthesis, O(inf2) consumption, or NA. CO(inf2) fixation in DCMU-amended samples was (symbl)25% of that in the control (nonamended) samples and demonstrated photosynthetic activity by anoxygenic phototrophs. NA in DCMU-amended samples, which was consistently higher (by a factor of 2 to 3) than the other (light and dark) treatments, was also attributed to purple phototrophic bacteria. The ecological implication is that N(inf2) fixation by anoxygenic phototrophs (purple phototrophic bacteria and possibly cyanobacteria) may be regulated by the activity of oxygenic phototrophs (cyanobacteria and diatoms). Consortial interactions that enhance the physiological plasticity of the mat community may be a key for optimizing production, N(inf2) fixation, and persistence in these extreme environments.