Titel
Linking extracellular enzymes to phylogeny indicates a predominantly particle-associated lifestyle of deep-sea prokaryotes
Autor*in
Abstract
Heterotrophic prokaryotes express extracellular hydrolytic enzymes to cleave large organic molecules before taking up the hydrolyzed products. According to foraging theory, extracellular enzymes should be cell associated in dilute systems such as deep sea habitats, but secreted into the surrounding medium in diffusion-limited systems. However, extracellular enzymes in the deep sea are found mainly dissolved in ambient water rather than cell associated. In order to resolve this paradox, we conducted a global survey of peptidases and carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes), two key enzyme groups initiating organic matter assimilation, in an integrated metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, and metaproteomics approach. The abundance, percentage, and diversity of genes encoding secretory processes, i.e., dissolved enzymes, consistently increased from epipelagic to bathypelagic waters, indicating that organic matter cleavage, and hence prokaryotic metabolism, is mediated mainly by particle-associated prokaryotes releasing their extracellular enzymes into diffusion-limited particles in the bathypelagic realm.
Objekt-Typ
Sprache
Englisch [eng]
Persistent identifier
Erschienen in
Titel
Science Advances
Band
6
Ausgabe
16
ISSN
2375-2548
Erscheinungsdatum
15.04.2020
Seitenanfang
1
Seitenende
10
Publication
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Erscheinungsdatum
2020
Zugänglichkeit
Rechte
Rechteangabe
Copyright © 2020 The Authors.
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