Bacterial carbon processing by generalist species in the coastal ocean Export

@article{citeulike:2342543, abstract = {The assimilation and mineralization of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) by marine bacterioplankton is a major process in the ocean carbon cycle1. However, little information exists on the specific metabolic functions of participating bacteria and on whether individual taxa specialize on particular components of the marine DOC pool2. Here we use experimental metagenomics to show that coastal communities are populated by taxa capable of metabolizing a wide variety of organic carbon compounds. Genomic DNA captured from bacterial community subsets metabolizing a single model component of the DOC pool (either dimethylsulphoniopropionate or vanillate) showed substantial overlap in gene composition as well as a diversity of carbon-processing capabilities beyond the selected phenotypes. Our direct measure of niche breadth for bacterial functional assemblages indicates that, in accordance with ecological theory, heterogeneity in the composition and supply of organic carbon to coastal oceans may favour generalist bacteria. In the important interplay between microbial community structure and biogeochemical cycling, coastal heterotrophic communities may be controlled less by transient changes in the carbon reservoir that they process and more by factors such as trophic interactions and physical conditions.}, author = {Mou, Xiaozhen and Sun, Shulei and Edwards, Robert A. and Hodson, Robert E. and Moran, Mary A.}, citeulike-article-id = {2342543}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/nature06513.html}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature06513}, doi = {10.1038/nature06513}, journal = {Nature}, keywords = {16s-rrna, community-composition, community-genomics, ecology, generalist, marine-ecosystem, marine-microbiology, perturbation-experiments, specialist-generalist}, number = {7179}, posted-at = {2008-02-06 16:09:27}, priority = {0}, title = {Bacterial carbon processing by generalist species in the coastal ocean}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature06513}, volume = {451} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:2342543 L3 - citeulike-article-id:2342543 N2 - The assimilation and mineralization of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) by marine bacterioplankton is a major process in the ocean carbon cycle1. However, little information exists on the specific metabolic functions of participating bacteria and on whether individual taxa specialize on particular components of the marine DOC pool2. Here we use experimental metagenomics to show that coastal communities are populated by taxa capable of metabolizing a wide variety of organic carbon compounds. Genomic DNA captured from bacterial community subsets metabolizing a single model component of the DOC pool (either dimethylsulphoniopropionate or vanillate) showed substantial overlap in gene composition as well as a diversity of carbon-processing capabilities beyond the selected phenotypes. Our direct measure of niche breadth for bacterial functional assemblages indicates that, in accordance with ecological theory, heterogeneity in the composition and supply of organic carbon to coastal oceans may favour generalist bacteria. In the important interplay between microbial community structure and biogeochemical cycling, coastal heterotrophic communities may be controlled less by transient changes in the carbon reservoir that they process and more by factors such as trophic interactions and physical conditions. IS - 7179 JF - Nature TI - Bacterial carbon processing by generalist species in the coastal ocean VL - 451 KW - 16s-rrna KW - community-composition KW - community-genomics KW - ecology KW - generalist KW - marine-ecosystem KW - marine-microbiology KW - perturbation-experiments KW - specialist-generalist AU - Mou, Xiaozhen AU - Sun, Shulei AU - Edwards, Robert AU - Hodson, Robert AU - Moran, Mary UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature06513 ER -