Abstract
Iron is an essential element for oceanic microbial life but its low bioavailability limits microorganisms in large areas of the oceans. To acquire this metal many marine bacteria produce organic chelates that bind and transport iron (siderophores). We have previously shown that algal-associated heterotrophic bacteria belonging to the γ-proteobacterial Marinobacter genus release the siderophore vibrioferrin (VF). The iron-VF complex was shown to be both far more photolabile than all previously examined photolabile siderophores and to generate a photoproduct incapable of re-chelating the released iron. Thus, the photo-generated iron was shown to be highly bioavailable both to the producing bacterium and its algal partner. In exchange, we proposed that algal cells produced dissolved organic matter that helped support bacterial growth and ultimately fueled the biosynthesis of VF through a light-dependent “carbon for iron mutualism”. While our knowledge of the importance of light to phototrophs is vast, there are almost no studies that examine the effects of light on microbial heterotrophs. Here, we characterize iron uptake mechanisms in “algal-associated” VF-producers. Fe uptake by a VF knock-out mutant mimics the wild-type strain and demonstrates the versatility of iron uptake mechanisms in Marinobacter VF-producers. We also show that VF-producers selectively regulate a subset of their siderophore-dependent iron uptake genes in response to light exposure. The regulation of iron uptake and transport genes by light is consistent with the light driven algal–bacterial “carbon for iron mutualism” hypothesis in the marine environment.
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Acknowledgments
This study was funded by NOAA Grants #NA04OAR4170038 and NA08OAR4170669, California Sea Grant College Program Project numbers R/CZ-198 and R/CONT-205 and NSF grant CHE-0924313. A.N.R. was supported at SDSU by National Institutes of Health, MBRS grant #2R25GM058906.
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Amin, S.A., Green, D.H., Gärdes, A. et al. Siderophore-mediated iron uptake in two clades of Marinobacter spp. associated with phytoplankton: the role of light. Biometals 25, 181–192 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10534-011-9495-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10534-011-9495-5