Chemotactic response of marine bacteria to the extracellular products of Synechococcus and Prochlorococcus

AME Aquatic Microbial Ecology Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsSpecials AME 59:161-168 (2010) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/ame01400 Chemotactic response of marine bacteria to the extracellular products of Synechococcus and Prochlorococcus J. R. Seymour1,2,3,*, T. Ahmed1, W. M. Durham1, R. Stocker1 1Ralph M. Parsons Laboratory, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA 2School of Biological Sciences, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia, 5001, Australia 3Present address: Plant Functional Biology and Climate Change Cluster (C3), University of Technology, Sydney, PO Box 123, Broadway, New South Wales 2007, Australia *Email: justin.seymour@uts.edu.au ABSTRACT: The cyanobacterial genera Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus are key phototrophic organisms in the open ocean, and ecological interactions between these groups and heterotrophic bacteria have fundamental importance for marine carbon and nutrient cycling. We applied a microfluidic chemotaxis assay to study the chemotactic response of 3 marine bacterial isolates (Pseudoalteromonas haloplanktis, Vibrio alginolyticus and Silicibacter sp. TM1040) to the chemical products of Synechococcus elongatus and Prochlorococcus marinus MED 4Ax. In the ocean, chemical products from these cyanobacteria may be released into the water column via extracellular exudation or cell lysis. Strong and rapid chemotactic responses by all 3 bacterial strains occurred in reaction to the Synechococcus products. P. haloplanktis cells exhibited the strongest attraction, accumulating within the chemoattractant band in concentrations of up to 9-fold above background levels. Positive chemotaxis to Prochlorococcus chemical products also occurred, with P. haloplanktis and Silicibacter sp. TM1040 exhibiting the strongest responses. These observations indicate that marine bacteria can exhibit behavioural responses to the chemical products of Synechococcus and Prochlorococcus, which may support ecological associations between these important populations of marine prokaryotes in the environment. KEY WORDS: Chemotaxis · Cyanobacteria · Heterotrophic bacteria · DOC Full text in pdf format PreviousNextCite this article as: Seymour JR, Ahmed T, Durham WM, Stocker R (2010) Chemotactic response of marine bacteria to the extracellular products of Synechococcus and Prochlorococcus. Aquat Microb Ecol 59:161-168. https://doi.org/10.3354/ame01400 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in AME Vol. 59, No. 2. Online publication date: March 31, 2010 Print ISSN: 0948-3055; Online ISSN: 1616-1564 Copyright © 2010 Inter-Research.