Alkaline phosphatases in microbialites and bacterioplankton from Alchichica soda lake, Mexico

Abstract

Dissolved organic phosphorus utilization by different members of natural communities has been closely linked to microbial alkaline phosphatases whose affiliation and diversity is largely unknown. Here we assessed genetic diversity of bacterial alkaline phosphatases phoX and phoD, using highly diverse microbial consortia (microbialites and bacterioplankton) as study models. These microbial consortia are found in an oligo-mesotrophic soda lake with a particular geochemistry, exhibiting a low calcium concentration and a high Mg : Ca ratio relative to seawater. In spite of the relative low calcium concentration in the studied system, our results highlight the diversity of calcium-based metallophosphatases phoX and phoD-like in heterotrophic bacteria of microbialites and bacterioplankton, where phoX was the most abundant alkaline phosphatase found. phoX and phoD-like phylotypes were more numerous in microbialites than in bacterioplankton. A larger potential community for DOP utilization in microbialites was consistent with the TN : TP ratio, suggesting P limitation within these assemblages. A cross-system comparison indicated that diversity of phoX in Lake Alchichica was similar to that of other aquatic systems with a naturally contrasting ionic composition and trophic state, although no phylotypes were shared among systems.

Unravelling core microbial metabolisms in the hypersaline microbial mats of Shark Bay using high-throughput metagenomics

“…Shark Bay microbial mats also have a high abundance of alkaline phosphatases, consistent with other microbialite forming ecosystems, such those found in a soda lake in Mexico (ValdespinoCastillo et al, 2014). These alkaline phosphatases potentially allow for a greater dissolved organic phosphate utilisation (Valdespino-Castillo et al, 2014). On the basis of this we suspect that these alkaline phosphatases would allow for higher dissolved organic phosphate utilisation in the hypersaline Shark Bay mat systems.…”

Interaction between lithification and resource availability in the microbialites of Río Mesquites, Cuatro Ciénegas, México

“…Indeed, the predicted increase in the rate of biomass accrual and an increase in biomass P contents occurred in the Ca 2+ removal treatment. This result suggests that P limitation of microbial communities found in this and other CaCO 3 microbialites (Rosen et al ., ; Elser et al ., , ; Valdespino‐Castillo et al ., ) is due to CaCO 3 coprecipitation of phosphate. However, P accrual in microbial biomass did not change consistently with the different methods of decreasing calcification.…”

“…Additionally, in a genetic survey from Lake Alchichica, México, Valdespino‐Castillo et al . () concluded that its microbialites, but not its bacterioplankton, were P‐limited due to the greater number of alkaline phosphatase genes found in the microbial consortia associated with the microbialites. These convergent observations of P limitation of CaCO 3 ‐based microbialites suggest this phenomenon may be a common feature.…”

A year in the life of a thrombolite: comparative metatranscriptomics reveals dynamic metabolic changes over diel and seasonal cycles

“…The ability of these microbialite-forming communities to alter their biological and geological environments has enabled these ecosystems to adapt to a wide range of environmental conditions over the course of Earth's history (Walter, 1994;Grotzinger and Knoll, 1999). Microbialites are located throughout the globe in a wide range of habitats (e.g., lacustrine, marine and hypersaline) and their ecological complexity is just now beginning to be revealed through advancements in high-throughput sequencing of the taxonomic and functional gene diversity (Breitbart et al, 2009;Khodadad and Foster, 2012;Petrash et al, 2012;Bernhard et al, 2011;Mobberley et al, 2013;Russell et al, 2014;Valdespino-Castillo et al, 2014;Sagha€ ı et al, 2015;Casaburi et al, 2016;Cerqueda-Garcia and Falcon, 2016;Chagas et al, 2016;Ruvindy et al, 2016;Warden et al, 2016;White et al, 2016;Alcantara-Hern andez et al, 2017;Louyakis et al, 2017).…”