Emergence of metabolic coupling to the heterotroph Alteromonas promotes dark survival in Prochlorococcus.

ABSTRACT: Prochlorococcus is found throughout the euphotic zone in the oligotrophic open ocean. Deep mixing and sinking while attached to particles can, however, transport Prochlorococcus cells below this sunlit zone, depriving them of light for extended periods of time. Previous work has shown that Prochlorococcus by itself cannot survive extended periods of darkness. However, when co-cultured with a heterotrophic microbe and subjected to repeated periods of extended darkness, Prochlorococcus cells develop an epigenetically inherited dark-tolerant phenotype that can survive longer periods of darkness. Here we examine the metabolic and physiological changes underlying this adaptation using co-cultures of dark-tolerant and parental strains of Prochlorococcus, each g

SUBMITTER: Coe A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11631117 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature