Production and cross-feeding of nitrite within Prochlorococcus populations.

ABSTRACT: Prochlorococcus is an abundant photosynthetic bacterium in the open ocean, where nitrogen (N) often limits phytoplankton growth. In the low-light-adapted LLI clade of Prochlorococcus, nearly all cells can assimilate nitrite (NO₂^-), with a subset capable of assimilating nitrate (NO₃^-). LLI cells are maximally abundant near the primary NO₂^- maximum layer, an oceanographic feature that may, in part, be due to incomplete assimilatory NO₃^- reduction and subsequent NO₂^- release by phytoplankton. We hypothesized that some Prochlorococcus exhibit incomplete assimilatory NO₃^- reduction and examined NO₂^- accumulation in culture

SUBMITTER: Berube PM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10470740 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature