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Effect of Predation by Colpoda sp. in Nitrogen Fixation Rate of Two Free-Living Bacteria

  • Soil Microbiology
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Abstract

Biological nitrogen fixation is limited to several groups of prokaryotes, some of them reduce nitrogen as free-living nitrogen-fixing bacteria. Protozoa predation on these latter releases sequestered nitrogen that may enhance the formation of new bacterial biomass and possibly increase nitrogen fixation within soil microbial communities. We aim to evaluate the predation effect of Colpoda sp. on two nitrogen fixers: Azospirillum lipoferum and Stenotrophomonas sp. during their lag, early exponential, and exponential phases. The kinetics of bacterial population growth was determined in the predators’ presence or absence and the effect of predation on the rate of N fixation was evaluated through the reduction of acetylene to ethylene technique. Colpoda sp. showed a non-significant difference in preferences between the two species offered as prey. Consequently, the abundance of A. lipoferum and Stenotrophomonas sp. decreased significantly due to predator’s pressure and both species responded by increasing their specific growth rate. Likewise, predation promoted greater nitrogen fixation rate by CFU during the lag phase in A. lipoferum (0.20 nM/CFU with predation vs 0.09 nM/CFU without predation) and Stenotrophomonas sp. (0.22 nM/CFU vs 0.09 nM/CFU respectively). During early exponential phase (29 h), the rate diminished to 0.13 and 0.05 nM/CFU in A. lipoferum and to 0.09 nM/CFU and 0.05 nM/CFU in Stenotrophomonas sp. Finally, during the exponential phase (52 h), only A. lipoferum without predation produced 0.003 nM/CFU of ethylene. Thus, the nitrogenase activity was higher in the lag and the early exponential phases when predator activity was involved.

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All data are available upon request to the corresponding author.

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Acknowledgements

Our special thanks are due to Postgrado en Ciencias Biologicas, UNAM and CONACyT (Mexical Council of Science and Technology) for financial support to C. M. Martínez-Reyes, during his master’s degree. We are also grateful for the support from the project PAPIIT IN222618.

Funding

Partial financial support was received from PAPIIT IN222618, DGAPA-UNAM. Furthermore, Carlos Martínez Reyes was awarded a scholarship from CONACyT to obtain his master’s degree at Posgrado en Ciencias Biológicas de la UNAM.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratorio de Ecología Microbiana, UBIPRO, FES-IZTACALA UNAM, Av. de los Barrios #1 Col. Los Reyes Iztacala, Tlalnepantla, 54090, Estado de México, México

    Carlos Manuel Martínez-Reyes & Salvador Rodríguez-Zaragoza

  2. Departamento de Ecología y Recursos Naturales, Facultad de Ciencias, UNAM, México City, México

    Nathalie Cabirol

  3. Microbiología de Suelos, Posgrado Edafología, Colegio de Postgraduados, Campus Montecillo, Carretera México-Texcoco km. 36.5, Montecillo, 56230, Estado de México, México

    Alejandro Alarcón

  4. SARA, Universidad Veracruzana, Av. Dr. Luis Castelazo s/n, Col. Industrial-Ánimas, Xalapa, 91000, Veracruz, México

    Ma. Remedios Mendoza-López

Authors
  1. Carlos Manuel Martínez-Reyes
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  2. Salvador Rodríguez-Zaragoza
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  3. Nathalie Cabirol
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Contributions

Conceptualization: Nathalie Cabirol, Alejandro Alarcón, Carlos Manuel Martínez Reyes, and Salvador Rodríguez Zaragoza. Methodology feeding preferences: Salvador Rodríguez Zaragoza and Carlos Manuel Martínez Reyes. Methodology nitrogen fixing and predator prey counts: Nathalie Cabirol, Ma Remedios Mendoza López, Alejandro Alarcón, and Carlos Manuel Martínez Reyes. Formal analysis and investigation: Nathalie Cabitol, Ma. Remedios Mendoza López, Alejandro Alarcón, Carlos Manuel Martínez Reyes, Salvador Rodríguez Zaragoza. Writing—original draft preparation: Alejandro Alarcón, Carlos Manuel Martínez Reyes. Writing—review and editing: Nathalie Cabirol, Ma. Remedios Mendoza López, Salvador Rodríguez Zaragoza. Funding acquisition: Salvador Rodríguez Zaragoza. Resources: PAPIIT IN222618, Dirección General de Asuntos del Personal Académico (DGAPA), UNAM. Funding acquisition: Carlos Manuel Martínez Reyes. Resources: CONACyT Scholarship granted through posgrado en Ciencias Biológicas de la UNAM.

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Correspondence to Salvador Rodríguez-Zaragoza.

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No approval of research ethics committees was required to accomplish the goals of this study because experimental work was conducted with a reference strain and a bacteria species isolated from soil as well as a microbial eukaryote.

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Martínez-Reyes, C.M., Rodríguez-Zaragoza, S., Cabirol, N. et al. Effect of Predation by Colpoda sp. in Nitrogen Fixation Rate of Two Free-Living Bacteria. Microb Ecol 83, 1026–1035 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-021-01813-9

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