Sulfur oxidation and reduction are coupled to nitrogen fixation in the roots of the salt marsh foundation plant Spartina alterniflora.

ABSTRACT: Heterotrophic activity, primarily driven by sulfate-reducing prokaryotes, has traditionally been linked to nitrogen fixation in the root zone of coastal marine plants, leaving the role of chemolithoautotrophy in this process unexplored. Here, we show that sulfur oxidation coupled to nitrogen fixation is a previously overlooked process providing nitrogen to coastal marine macrophytes. In this study, we recovered 239 metagenome-assembled genomes from a salt marsh dominated by the foundation plant Spartina alterniflora, including diazotrophic sulfate-reducing and sulfur-oxidizing bacteria. Abundant sulfur-oxidizing bacteria encode and highly express genes for carbon fixation (RuBisCO), nitrogen fixation (nifHDK) and sulfur oxidation (oxidative-dsrAB), especially in roots stressed by sulfidic

SUBMITTER: Rolando JL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11059160 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature