High molecular weight dissolved organic matter enrichment selects for methylotrophs in dilution to extinction cultures.

ABSTRACT: The role of bacterioplankton in the cycling of marine dissolved organic matter (DOM) is central to the carbon and energy balance in the ocean, yet there are few model organisms available to investigate the genes, metabolic pathways, and biochemical mechanisms involved in the degradation of this globally important carbon pool. To obtain microbial isolates capable of degrading semi-labile DOM for growth, we conducted dilution to extinction cultivation experiments using seawater enriched with high molecular weight (HMW) DOM. In total, 93 isolates were obtained. Amendments using HMW DOM to increase the dissolved organic carbon concentration 4x (280 μM) or 10x (700 μM) the ocean surface water concentrations yielded positive growth in 4-6% of replicate dilutions, whereas <1% scored positive for

SUBMITTER: Sosa OA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4817625 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature