title: Biogeochemical processes in the saline meromictic Lake Kaiike, Japan: implications from molecular isotopic evidences of photosynthetic pigments.
abstract: Stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic compositions were determined for individual photosynthetic pigments isolated and purified from the saline meromictic Lake Kaiike, Japan, to investigate species-independent biogeochemical processes of photoautotrophs in the natural environment. In the anoxic monimolimnion and benthic microbial mats, the carbon isotopic compositions of BChls e and isorenieratene related to brown-coloured strains of green sulfur bacteria are substantially ( approximately 10 per thousand) depleted in (13)C relative to those found in the chemocline. In conjunction with 16S rDNA evidence reported previously, it strongly suggests that Pelodyctyon luteolum inhabited and photosynthesized in the anoxic monimolimnion and benthic microbial mats by using (13)C-depleted regenerated CO(2). By contrast, both Chl a and BChl a in the monimolimnion and microbial mats have similar isotopic compositions as they do in the chemocline, implying that the source organisms live only in the chemocline. In the chemocline, the nitrogen isotopic compositions of BChl e homologues ranges from -7.7 to-6.5 per thousand, whereas that of BChl a is -2.1 per thousand. These isotopic compositions suggest that green sulfur bacteria Chlorobium phaeovibrioides would conduct nitrogen fixation in the chemocline, whereas purple sulfur bacteria Halochromatium sp. and cyanobacteria Synechococcus sp. may assimilate nitrite.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Research on Earth Evolution, Yokosuka 237-0061, Japan. nohkouchi@jamstec.go.jp
authors.forename: Naohiko
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ohkouchi
authors.forename: Yoji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nakajima
authors.forename: Hisatake
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Okada
authors.forename: Nanako O
authors.initials: NO
authors.lastname: Ogawa
authors.forename: Hisami
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Suga
authors.forename: Kazumasa
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Oguri
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kitazato
mesh_terms: D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification / Q000378:metabolism*; D001429:Bacteriochlorophylls / Q000378:metabolism*; D002247:Carbon Isotopes / Q000378:metabolism*; D041883:Chlorobium / Q000378:metabolism; D002841:Chromatiaceae / Q000378:metabolism; D017753:Ecosystem; D005618:Fresh Water / Q000737:chemistry / Q000382:microbiology*; D007564:Japan; D009587:Nitrogen Isotopes / Q000378:metabolism*; D010788:Photosynthesis; D012965:Sodium Chloride; D046940:Synechococcus / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D001429:Bacteriochlorophylls; D002247:Carbon Isotopes; D009587:Nitrogen Isotopes; D012965:Sodium Chloride