TY - JOUR
T1 - Surface properties of SAR11 bacteria facilitate grazing avoidance
AU - Dadon-Pilosof, Ayelet
AU - Conley, Keats R.
AU - Jacobi, Yuval
AU - Haber, Markus
AU - Lombard, Fabien
AU - Sutherland, Kelly R.
AU - Steindler, Laura
AU - Tikochinski, Yaron
AU - Richter, Michael
AU - Glöckner, Frank Oliver
AU - Suzuki, Marcelino T.
AU - West, Nyree J.
AU - Genin, Amatzia
AU - Yahel, Gitai
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 The Author(s).
PY - 2017/12/1
Y1 - 2017/12/1
N2 - Oceanic ecosystems are dominated by minute microorganisms that play a major role in food webs and biogeochemical cycles 1 . Many microorganisms thrive in the dilute environment due to their capacity to locate, attach to, and use patches of nutrients and organic matter 2,3 . We propose that some free-living planktonic bacteria have traded their ability to stick to nutrient-rich organic particles for a non-stick cell surface that helps them evade predation by mucous filter feeders. We used a combination of in situ sampling techniques and next-generation sequencing to study the biological filtration of microorganisms at the phylotype level. Our data indicate that some marine bacteria, most notably the highly abundant Pelagibacter ubique and most other members of the SAR 11 clade of the Alphaproteobacteria, can evade filtration by slipping through the mucous nets of both pelagic and benthic tunicates. While 0.3 μm polystyrene beads and other similarly-sized bacteria were efficiently filtered, SAR11 members were not captured. Reversed-phase chromatography revealed that most SAR11 bacteria have a much less hydrophobic cell surface than that of other planktonic bacteria. Our data call for a reconsideration of the role of surface properties in biological filtration and predator-prey interactions in aquatic systems.
AB - Oceanic ecosystems are dominated by minute microorganisms that play a major role in food webs and biogeochemical cycles 1 . Many microorganisms thrive in the dilute environment due to their capacity to locate, attach to, and use patches of nutrients and organic matter 2,3 . We propose that some free-living planktonic bacteria have traded their ability to stick to nutrient-rich organic particles for a non-stick cell surface that helps them evade predation by mucous filter feeders. We used a combination of in situ sampling techniques and next-generation sequencing to study the biological filtration of microorganisms at the phylotype level. Our data indicate that some marine bacteria, most notably the highly abundant Pelagibacter ubique and most other members of the SAR 11 clade of the Alphaproteobacteria, can evade filtration by slipping through the mucous nets of both pelagic and benthic tunicates. While 0.3 μm polystyrene beads and other similarly-sized bacteria were efficiently filtered, SAR11 members were not captured. Reversed-phase chromatography revealed that most SAR11 bacteria have a much less hydrophobic cell surface than that of other planktonic bacteria. Our data call for a reconsideration of the role of surface properties in biological filtration and predator-prey interactions in aquatic systems.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85030308929&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41564-017-0030-5
DO - 10.1038/s41564-017-0030-5
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C2 - 28970475
AN - SCOPUS:85030308929
SN - 2058-5276
VL - 2
SP - 1608
EP - 1615
JO - Nature Microbiology
JF - Nature Microbiology
IS - 12
ER -