title: Response of the ubiquitous pelagic diatom Thalassiosira weissflogii to darkness and anoxia.
abstract: Thalassiosira weissflogii, an abundant, nitrate-storing, bloom-forming diatom in the world's oceans, can use its intracellular nitrate pool for dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA) after sudden shifts to darkness and anoxia, most likely as a survival mechanism. T. weissflogii cells that stored 4 mM (15)N-nitrate consumed 1.15 (±0.25) fmol NO3 (-) cell(-1) h(-1) and simultaneously produced 1.57 (±0.21) fmol (15)NH4 (+) cell(-1) h(-1) during the first 2 hours of dark/anoxic conditions. Ammonium produced from intracellular nitrate was excreted by the cells, indicating a dissimilatory rather than assimilatory pathway. Nitrite and the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide were produced at rates 2-3 orders of magnitude lower than the ammonium production rate. While DNRA activity was restricted to the first few hours of darkness and anoxia, the subsequent degradation of photopigments took weeks to months, supporting the earlier finding that diatoms resume photosynthesis even after extended exposure to darkness and anoxia. Considering the high global abundance of T. weissflogii, its production of ammonium and nitrous oxide might be of ecological importance for oceanic oxygen minimum zones and the atmosphere, respectively.
authors: Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Microsensor Group, Bremen, Germany ; Jacobs University Bremen, Molecular Life Science Research Center, Bremen, Germany.
authors: Anja
authors: A
authors: Kamp
authors: Peter
authors: P
authors: Stief
authors: Jan
authors: J
authors: Knappe
authors: Dirk
authors: D
authors: de Beer
mesh_terms: D003624:Darkness; D017377:Diatoms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D000860:Hypoxia / Q000503:physiopathology; D009573:Nitrites / Q000378:metabolism; D009609:Nitrous Oxide / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D009573:Nitrites; D009609:Nitrous Oxide