Organic matter processing by microbial communities throughout the Atlantic water column as revealed by metaproteomics

• DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1708779115
• Publication Date: 2017-12-18T20:04:38Z
• Authors: Kristin Bergauer; Antonio Fernandez...; Juan A. L. Garcia; Richard R. Sprenger; Ramunas Stepanauskas; Maria G. Pachiadaki; Ole N. Jensen; Gerhard J. Herndl
• Keywords: PERIPLASMIC TRAP TRANSPORTERS; Proteomics; 0301 basic medicine; SDG 14 – Leben unter Wasser; Archaeal Proteins; CARBON; 03 medical and health sciences; Metaproteomics; Bacterial Proteins; Genome, Archaeal; ARCHAEA; Seawater; SDG 14 - Life Below Water; 14. Life underwater; SURFACE WATERS; Atlantic Ocean; 106021 Meeresbiologie; organic matter; BIOLOGICAL PUMP; SEA; Bacteria; Transporter proteins; Biodiversity; Archaea; Deep sea; TRIPARTITE TRICARBOXYLATE TRANSPORTER; BINDING-PROTEIN; 106021 Marine biology; PNAS Plus; deep sea; 13. Climate action; BACTERIA; DARK OCEAN; metaproteomics; Organic matter; Metagenomics; transporter proteins; Water Microbiology; Genome, Bacterial

Significance Circumstantial evidence indicates that especially deep-ocean heterotrophic microbes rely on particulate organic matter sinking through the oceanic water column and being solubilized to dissolved organic matter (DOM) prior to utilization rather than on direct uptake of the vast pool of DOM in the deep ocean. Comparative metaproteomics allowed us to elucidate the vertical distribution and abundance of microbially mediated transport processes and thus the uptake of solutes throughout the oceanic water column. Taken together, our data suggest that, while the phylogenetic composition of the microbial community is depth stratified, the composition and substrate specificities of transporters considered in this study are ubiquitous while their relative abundance changes with depth.