Polysaccharide breakdown products drive degradation-dispersal cycles of foraging bacteria through changes in metabolism and motility.

ABSTRACT: Most of Earth's biomass is composed of polysaccharides. During biomass decomposition, polysaccharides are degraded by heterotrophic bacteria as a nutrient and energy source and are thereby partly remineralized into CO₂. As polysaccharides are heterogeneously distributed in nature, following the colonization and degradation of a polysaccharide hotspot the cells need to reach new polysaccharide hotspots. Even though many studies indicate that these degradation-dispersal cycles contribute to the carbon flow in marine systems, we know little about how cells alternate between polysaccharide degradation and motility, and which environmental factors trigger this behavioral switch. Here, we studied the growth of the marine bacterium Vibrio cyclitrophicus ZF270 on the abundant mar

SUBMITTER: Stubbusch AKM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11493405 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature