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Metabolism of DMSP, DMS and DMSO by the cultivable bacterial community associated with the DMSP-producing dinoflagellate Scrippsiella trochoidea

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Abstract

Bacterial species associated with the dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP)-producing phytoplankton Scrippsiella trochoidea were cultured and identified, with the aim of establishing their ability to metabolise DMSP, dimethylsulfide (DMS) and dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO). Results demonstrate that of the cultivable bacteria only α-Proteobacteria were capable of producing DMS from DMSP. The concentration of DMSP was shown to affect the amount of DMS produced. Lower DMSP concentrations (1.5 μmol dm−3) were completely assimilated, whereas higher concentrations (10 μmol dm−3) resulted in increasing amounts of DMS being produced. By contrast to the restricted set of bacteria that metabolised DMSP, ~ 70% of the bacterial isolates were able to ‘consume’ DMS. However, 98-100% of the DMS removed was accounted for as DMSO. Notably, a number of these bacteria would only oxidise DMS in the presence of glucose, including members of the γ-Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes. The observations from this study, coupled with published field data, identify DMS oxidation to DMSO as a major transformation pathway for DMS, and we speculate that the fate of DMS and DMSP in the field are tightly coupled to the available carbon produced by phytoplankton.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful for support from Debra Brennan for 16S rRNA clone analysis, Elaine Mitchell for flow cytometric analysis and Christine Campbell for supply of S. trochoidea CCAP 1134/1. This research was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council UK SOLAS Programme (NE/C51725X/1) and a Natural Environment Research Council-CASE studentship (NE/F006748/1).

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  1. Damodar M. Shenoy

    Present address: National Institute of Oceanography (CSIR), Dona Paula, 403 004, Goa, India

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biogeochemistry & Earth Science, Scottish Association for Marine Science, Scottish Marine Institute, Oban, Argyll, PA37 1QA, UK

    Angela D. Hatton & Andrew Mogg

  2. Department of Microbial & Molecular Biology, Scottish Association for Marine Science, Scottish Marine Institute, Oban, Argyll, PA37 1QA, UK

    Damodar M. Shenoy, Mark C. Hart & David H. Green

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  1. Angela D. Hatton
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Correspondence to Angela D. Hatton or David H. Green.

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Hatton, A.D., Shenoy, D.M., Hart, M.C. et al. Metabolism of DMSP, DMS and DMSO by the cultivable bacterial community associated with the DMSP-producing dinoflagellate Scrippsiella trochoidea . Biogeochemistry 110, 131–146 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10533-012-9702-7

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