Jingli Liu, Chun-Xu Xue, Jinyan Wang, Andrew T Crombie, Ornella Carrión, Andrew W B Johnston, J Colin Murrell, Ji Liu, Yanfen Zheng, Xiao-Hua Zhang, Jonathan D Todd
BACKGROUND: Ubiquitous and diverse marine microorganisms utilise the abundant organosulfur molecule dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP), the main precursor of the climate-active gas dimethylsulfide (DMS), as a source of carbon, sulfur and/or signalling molecules. However, it is currently difficult to discern which microbes actively catabolise DMSP in the environment, why they do so and the pathways used. RESULTS: Here, a novel DNA-stable isotope probing (SIP) approach, where only the propionate and not the DMS moiety of DMSP was 13 C-labelled, was strategically applied to identify key microorganisms actively using DMSP and also likely DMS as a carbon source, and their catabolic enzymes, in North Sea water...
July 27, 2022: Microbiome