Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 27 October 2006:
Vol. 314. no. 5799, pp. 649 - 652
DOI: 10.1126/science.1130657
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

Bacterial Taxa That Limit Sulfur Flux from the Ocean

Erinn C. Howard,1 James R. Henriksen,1 Alison Buchan,3 Chris R. Reisch,1 Helmut Bürgmann,2 Rory Welsh,2 Wenying Ye,2 José M. González,4 Kimberly Mace,2 Samantha B. Joye,2 Ronald P. Kiene,5,6 William B. Whitman,1 Mary Ann Moran2*

Flux of dimethylsulfide (DMS) from ocean surface waters is the predominant natural source of sulfur to the atmosphere and influences climate by aerosol formation. Marine bacterioplankton regulate sulfur flux by converting the precursor dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) either to DMS or to sulfur compounds that are not climatically active. Through the discovery of a glycine cleavage T-family protein with DMSP methyltransferase activity, marine bacterioplankton in the Roseobacter and SAR11 taxa were identified as primary mediators of DMSP demethylation to methylmercaptopropionate. One-third of surface ocean bacteria harbor a DMSP demethylase homolog and thereby route a substantial fraction of global marine primary production away from DMS formation and into the marine microbial food web.

1 Department of Microbiology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA.
2 Department of Marine Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA.
3 Department of Microbiology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA.
4 Department of Microbiology, University of La Laguna, 38071 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain.
5 Department of Marine Sciences, University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL 36688, USA.
6 Dauphin Island Sea Lab, Dauphin Island, AL 36528, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: mmoran{at}uga.edu

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Deep Sequencing of a Dimethylsulfoniopropionate-Degrading Gene (dmdA) by Using PCR Primer Pairs Designed on the Basis of Marine Metagenomic Data.
V. A. Varaljay, E. C. Howard, S. Sun, and M. A. Moran (2010)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 76, 609-617
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Microbial degradation of dimethylsulphide and related C1-sulphur compounds: organisms and pathways controlling fluxes of sulphur in the biosphere.
H. Schafer, N. Myronova, and R. Boden (2010)
J. Exp. Bot. 61, 315-334
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Coral-Associated Bacteria and Their Role in the Biogeochemical Cycling of Sulfur.
J.-B. Raina, D. Tapiolas, B. L. Willis, and D. G. Bourne (2009)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 75, 3492-3501
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Prokaryotic Genomes and Diversity in Surface Ocean Waters: Interrogating the Global Ocean Sampling Metagenome.
E. J. Biers, S. Sun, and E. C. Howard (2009)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 75, 2221-2229
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Dimethylsulfoniopropionate-Dependent Demethylase (DmdA) from Pelagibacter ubique and Silicibacter pomeroyi.
C. R. Reisch, M. A. Moran, and W. B. Whitman (2008)
J. Bacteriol. 190, 8018-8024
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Volatilization and Precipitation of Tellurium by Aerobic, Tellurite-Resistant Marine Microbes.
P. R. L. Ollivier, A. S. Bahrou, S. Marcus, T. Cox, T. M. Church, and T. E. Hanson (2008)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 74, 7163-7173
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Occurrence and Expression of Gene Transfer Agent Genes in Marine Bacterioplankton.
E. J. Biers, K. Wang, C. Pennington, R. Belas, F. Chen, and M. A. Moran (2008)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 74, 2933-2939
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Molecular diversity of bacterial production of the climate-changing gas, dimethyl sulphide, a molecule that impinges on local and global symbioses.
A. W. B. Johnston, J. D. Todd, L. Sun, M. N. Nikolaidou-Katsaridou, A. R. J. Curson, and R. Rogers (2008)
J. Exp. Bot. 59, 1059-1067
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Mesaconyl-Coenzyme A Hydratase, a New Enzyme of Two Central Carbon Metabolic Pathways in Bacteria.
J. Zarzycki, A. Schlichting, N. Strychalsky, M. Muller, B. E. Alber, and G. Fuchs (2008)
J. Bacteriol. 190, 1366-1374
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Ecological Genomics of Marine Roseobacters.
M. A. Moran, R. Belas, M. A. Schell, J. M. Gonzalez, F. Sun, S. Sun, B. J. Binder, J. Edmonds, W. Ye, B. Orcutt, et al. (2007)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 73, 4559-4569
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Trace gas emissions from the marine biosphere.
P. S Liss (2007)
Phil Trans R Soc A 365, 1697-1704
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Synthesis of C5-dicarboxylic acids from C2-units involving crotonyl-CoA carboxylase/reductase: The ethylmalonyl-CoA pathway.
T. J. Erb, I. A. Berg, V. Brecht, M. Muller, G. Fuchs, and B. E. Alber (2007)
PNAS 104, 10631-10636
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Structural and Regulatory Genes Required to Make the Gas Dimethyl Sulfide in Bacteria.
J. D. Todd, R. Rogers, Y. G. Li, M. Wexler, P. L. Bond, L. Sun, A. R. J. Curson, G. Malin, M. Steinke, and A. W. B. Johnston (2007)
Science 315, 666-669
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)