Ammonia-oxidizing archaea release a suite of organic compounds potentially fueling prokaryotic heterotrophy in the ocean.

ABSTRACT: Ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) constitute a considerable fraction of microbial biomass in the global ocean, comprising 20%-40% of the ocean's prokaryotic plankton. However, it remains enigmatic to what extent these chemolithoautotrophic archaea release dissolved organic carbon (DOC). A combination of targeted and untargeted metabolomics was used to characterize the exometabolomes of three model AOA strains of the Nitrosopumilus genus. Our results indicate that marine AOA exude a suite of organic compounds with potentially varying reactivities, dominated by nitrogen-containing compounds. A significant fraction of the released dissolved organic matter (DOM) consists of labile compounds, which typically limit prokaryotic heterotrophic activity in open ocean waters, including amino acids, thy

SUBMITTER: Bayer B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6899801 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature