Effect of large magnetotactic bacteria with polyphosphate inclusions on the phosphate profile of the suboxic zone in the Black Sea.

ABSTRACT: The Black Sea is the world's largest anoxic basin and a model system for studying processes across redox gradients. In between the oxic surface and the deeper sulfidic waters there is an unusually broad layer of 10-40 m, where neither oxygen nor sulfide are detectable. In this suboxic zone, dissolved phosphate profiles display a pronounced minimum at the upper and a maximum at the lower boundary, with a peak of particulate phosphorus in between, which was suggested to be caused by the sorption of phosphate on sinking particles of metal oxides. Here we show that bacterial polyphosphate inclusions within large magnetotactic bacteria related to the genus Magnetococcus contribute substantially to the observed phosphorus peak, as they contain 26-34% phosphorus compared to only 1-5% in metal-ric

SUBMITTER: Schulz-Vogt HN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6474215 | biostudies-literature | 2019 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature