Microbial rhodopsins are increasingly favoured over chlorophyll in High Nutrient Low Chlorophyll waters
- Author(s)
- B Hassanzadeh, B Thomson, F Deans, J Wenley, S Lockwood, K Currie, SE Morales, L Steindler, SA Sañudo-Wilhelmy, F Baltar, L Gómez-Consarnau
- Abstract
Microbial rhodopsins are simple light-harvesting complexes that, unlike chlorophyll photosystems, have no iron requirements for their synthesis and phototrophic functions. Here, we report the environmental concentrations of rhodopsin along the Subtropical Frontal Zone off New Zealand, where Subtropical waters encounter the iron-limited Subantarctic High Nutrient Low Chlorophyll (HNLC) region. Rhodopsin concentrations were highest in HNLC waters where chlorophyll-a concentrations were lowest. Furthermore, while the ratio of rhodopsin to chlorophyll-a photosystems was on average 20 along the transect, this ratio increased to over 60 in HNLC waters. We further show that microbial rhodopsins are abundant in both picoplankton (0.2–3 μm) and in the larger (>3 μm) size fractions of the microbial community containing eukaryotic plankton and/or particle-attached prokaryotes. These findings suggest that rhodopsin phototrophy could be critical for microbial plankton to adapt to resource-limiting environments where photosynthesis and possibly cellular respiration are impaired.
- Organisation(s)
- Functional and Evolutionary Ecology
- External organisation(s)
- University of Southern California, University of Otago, National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), Hataitai, Wellington, 6021, New Zealand., University of Haifa, Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada
- Journal
- Environmental Microbiology Reports
- Volume
- 13
- Pages
- 401-406
- No. of pages
- 6
- ISSN
- 1758-2229
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-2229.12948
- Publication date
- 06-2021
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 106021 Marine biology
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Agricultural and Biological Sciences (miscellaneous)
- Sustainable Development Goals
- SDG 14 - Life Below Water
- Portal url
- https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/en/publications/microbial-rhodopsins-are-increasingly-favoured-over-chlorophyll-in-high-nutrient-low-chlorophyll-waters(197a4981-9105-46de-aa07-fe15b61c5294).html