Resilience of SAR11 bacteria to rapid acidification in the high-latitude open ocean

Authors

Manuela Hartmann1,†, Polly G. Hill1,†, Eithne Tynan2,†, Eric P. Achterberg2,3,†,
Raymond J. G. Leakey4,† and Mikhail V. Zubkov1,∗,†

Affiliations

1National Oceanography Centre, Southampton, European Way, Southampton SO14 3ZH, UK, 2School of Ocean
and Earth Sciences, National Oceanography Centre Southampton, University of Southampton, Southampton,
SO14 3ZH, UK, 3GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research, D-24148 Kiel, Germany and 4Scottish
Association for Marine Science, Scottish Marine Institute, Oban, Argyll PA37 1QA, UK

Application Area

Science Technology

General Fluorescence Microscopy

Abstract

Ubiquitous SAR11 Alphaproteobacteria numerically dominate marine planktonic communities. Because they are
excruciatingly difficult to cultivate, there is comparatively little known about their physiology and metabolic responses to
long- and short-term environmental changes. As surface oceans take up anthropogenic, atmospheric CO2, the
consequential process of ocean acidification could affect the global biogeochemical significance of SAR11. Shipping
accidents or inadvertent release of chemicals from industrial plants can have strong short-term local effects on oceanic
SAR11. This study investigated the effect of 2.5-fold acidification of seawater on the metabolism of SAR11 and other
heterotrophic bacterioplankton along a natural temperature gradient crossing the North Atlantic Ocean, Norwegian and
Greenland Seas. Uptake rates of the amino acid leucine by SAR11 cells as well as other bacterioplankton remained similar
to controls despite an instant ∼50% increase in leucine bioavailability upon acidification. This high physiological resilience
to acidification even without acclimation, suggests that open ocean dominant bacterioplankton are able to cope even with
sudden and therefore more likely with long-term acidification effects.

Extract

At least two transects of the filter were
inspected to detect potential contaminants using an epifluorescence
microscope (Axioscope, Zeiss, Germany) equipped with a
LED light source pE-300 (CoolLED, UK).

Product Associated Features

The award winning pE-300 Series is a range of LED Illumination Systems for Fluorescence, Optogenetics, Electrophysiology and high speed microscopy applications. It comprises 3 systems providing a solution that covers a range of everyday fluorescence microscopy; from the simple pE-300lite through the classic pE-300white to the highly controllable pE-300ultra.

Diascopic Technique

-

Live Cell Issues

-

Product Type

pE-300^white

Journal

Microbiology Ecology

Year of Publication

2015

Country of Publication

UK