Single-cell determination of iron content in magnetotactic bacteria: implications for the iron biogeochemical cycle.

ABSTRACT: Magnetotactic bacteria (MTB) are ubiquitous aquatic microorganisms that mineralize dissolved iron into intracellular magnetic crystals. After cell death, these crystals are trapped into sediments that remove iron from the soluble pool. MTB may significantly impact the iron biogeochemical cycle, especially in the ocean where dissolved iron limits nitrogen fixation and primary productivity. A thorough assessment of their impact has been hampered by a lack of methodology to measure the amount of, and variability in, their intracellular iron content. We quantified the iron mass contained in single MTB cells of Magnetospirillum magneticum strain AMB-1 using a time-resolved inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry methodology. Bacterial iron content depends on the external iron concentration

SUBMITTER: Amor M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7051126 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature