Phosphate-limited ocean regions select for bacterial populations enriched in the carbon-phosphorus lyase pathway for phosphonate degradation.

ABSTRACT: In tropical and subtropical oceanic surface waters phosphate scarcity can limit microbial productivity. However, these environments also have bioavailable forms of phosphorus incorporated into dissolved organic matter (DOM) that microbes with the necessary transport and hydrolysis metabolic pathways can access to supplement their phosphorus requirements. In this study we evaluated how the environment shapes the abundance and taxonomic distribution of the bacterial carbon-phosphorus (C-P) lyase pathway, an enzyme complex evolved to extract phosphate from phosphonates. Phosphonates are organophosphorus compounds characterized by a highly stable C-P bond and are enriched in marine DOM. Similar to other known bacterial adaptions to low phosphate environments, C-P lyase was found to become more

SUBMITTER: Sosa OA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6852614 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature