Dynamics in bacterial surface properties of a natural bacterial community in the coastal North Sea during a spring phytoplankton bloom

Author(s)
Karen Elisabeth Stoderegger, Gerhard J. Herndl
Abstract

The hydrophilic and hydrophobic properties of single cells of natural bacterioplankton communities were determined using a recently developed staining method combined with confocal laser scanning microscopy and advanced image analysis. On an average, about 50% of the bacterial cell area was covered by hydrophobic and only 16% by hydrophilic properties, while about 72% was covered by the genome. However, the size of these properties was independent of the bacterial cell size. Bacterial hydrophobicity was positively correlated with ambient NH4+ concentrations and negatively correlated with overall bacterial abundance. The expression of hydrophilicity was more dynamic. Over the spring phytoplankton bloom, the bacterioplankton ratiophil/phob repeatedly reached highest values shortly before peaks in bacterioplankton abundance were observed, indicating a direct and fast response of bacterial surface properties, especially hydrophilicity, to changing environmental conditions. Compared to bacterial strains, recently studied with the same method, cells of marine bacterioplankton communities are much smaller and less frequently covered by hydrophobic or hydrophilic properties. While the percentage area covered by the genome is essentially the same, the percentage area covered by hydrophobic or hydrophilic properties is much smaller.

Organisation(s)
External organisation(s)
Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research
Journal
FEMS microbiology ecology
Volume
53
Pages
285-294
No. of pages
10
ISSN
0168-6496
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.femsec.2005.01.015
Publication date
07-2005
Peer reviewed
Yes
Austrian Fields of Science 2012
106021 Marine biology
Keywords
ASJC Scopus subject areas
Microbiology, Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, Ecology
Sustainable Development Goals
SDG 14 - Life Below Water
Portal url
https://ucris.univie.ac.at/portal/en/publications/dynamics-in-bacterial-surface-properties-of-a-natural-bacterial-community-in-the-coastal-north-sea-during-a-spring-phytoplankton-bloom(d170c983-15fa-44ce-a9bd-5c4f8c689535).html