Nutrient Acquisition: The Generation of Bioactive Vitamin B12 by Microalgae.
Many microalgae acquire vitamin B12 from marine prokaryotes. A new study demonstrates that vitamin B12 is synthesized by planktonic cyanobacteria as pseudocobalamin, a form not bioactive in microalgae. However, some microalgae can remodel pseudocobalamin to the active cobalamin form, adding complexity to our assessment of active vitamin B12 in the environment.
Department of Plant Biology, Carnegie Institution for Science, 260 Panama Street, Stanford, CA 94305, USA. Electronic address: arthurg@stanford.edu.
Arthur
A
Grossman
D000458:Cyanobacteria / Q000378:metabolism*; D058086:Microalgae / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000382:microbiology; D009747:Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D014805:Vitamin B 12 / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*
D014805:Vitamin B 12