Evidence is increasing for a mutualistic relationship between many bloom forming algae and some heterotrophic marine bacteria. We hypothesize that iron, the growth limiting micronutrient in many parts of the world's oceans might be an important component in such mutualism. Marine bacteria are known to produce siderophores, molecules that bind to iron and improve its bioavailability and solubility. However the bioavailability of such siderophore bound iron to phytoplankton is not well understood. Our lab has presented a strong case for the involvement of photoactive siderophores in effecting potentially important changes to iron speciation and hence its bioavailability to phytoplankton. To test this hypothesis we have, using their biosynthetic genes as a surrogate, quantified the presence of several photoactive siderophores in the marine environment .  We present and compare data obtained both from a research cruise off the coast of CA with samples obtained locally at Scripps pier before, during and after a bloom of the dinoflagellates Lingulodinium polyedrum. Such data may aid us in gauging the importance of such siderophores in any mutualistic association between algae and marine bacteria.

Detection of photoreactive siderophore biosynthetic genes in the marine environment

243rd National Meeting (2012)

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