Document Type

Article

Abstract

Linking microbial metabolomics and carbon sequestration in the ocean via refractory organic molecules has been hampered by the chemical complexity of dissolved organic matter (DOM). Here, using bioassay experiments and ultra-high resolution metabolic profiling, we demonstrate that marine bacteria rapidly utilize simple organic molecules and produce exometabolites of remarkable molecular and structural diversity. Bacterial DOM is similar in chemical composition and structural complexity to naturally occurring DOM in sea water. An appreciable fraction of bacterial DOM has molecular and structural properties that are consistent with those of refractory molecules in the ocean, indicating a dominant role for bacteria in shaping the refractory nature of marine DOM. The rapid production of chemically complex and persistent molecules from simple biochemicals demonstrates a positive feedback between primary production and refractory DOM formation. It appears that carbon sequestration in diverse and structurally complex dissolved molecules that persist in the environment is largely driven by bacteria.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms7711

Rights

© Nature Communications 2015, Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved.

APA Citation

Lechtenfeld, O., Hertkorn, N., Shen, Y., Witt, M., & Benner, R. (2015). Marine Sequestration of Carbon in Bacterial Metabolites. Nature Communications, 6. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms7711

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