Microbial Succession of Anaerobic Chitin Degradation in Freshwater Sediments.

ABSTRACT: Chitin is massively produced by freshwater plankton species as a structural element of their exoskeleton or cell wall. At the same time, chitin does not accumulate in the predominantly anoxic sediments, underlining its importance as carbon and nitrogen sources for sedimentary microorganisms. We studied chitin degradation in littoral sediment of Lake Constance, Central Europe's third largest lake. Turnover of the chitin analog methyl-umbelliferyl-N,N-diacetylchitobioside (MUF-DC) was highest in the upper oxic sediment layer, with 5.4 nmol MUF-DC h^-1 (g sediment [dry weight])^-1 In the underlying anoxic sediment layers, chitin hydrolysis decreased with depth from 1.1 to 0.08 nmol MUF-DC h^-1 (g sediment [dry weight])^-1 Bacteria involved

SUBMITTER: Worner S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6715849 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature