Stoichio-Metagenomics of Ocean Waters: A Molecular Evolution Approach to Trace the Dynamics of Nitrogen Conservation in Natural Communities.

ABSTRACT: Nitrogen is crucially limiting in ocean surface waters, and its availability varies substantially with coastal regions typically richer in nutrients than open oceans. In a biological stoichiometry framework, a parsimonious strategy of nitrogen allocation predicts nitrogen content of proteins to be lower in communities adapted to open ocean than to coastal regions. To test this hypothesis we have directly interrogated marine microbial communities, using a series of metagenomics datasets with a broad geographical distribution from the Global Ocean Sampling Expedition. Analyzing over 20 million proteins, we document a ubiquitous signal of nitrogen conservation in open ocean communities, both in membrane and non-membrane proteins. Efficient nitrogen allocation is expected to specifically targe

SUBMITTER: Dittberner H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6058095 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature