title: Methylamine as a nitrogen source for microorganisms from a coastal marine environment.
abstract: Nitrogen is a key limiting resource for biomass production in the marine environment. Methylated amines, released from the degradation of osmolytes, could provide a nitrogen source for marine microbes. Thus far, studies in aquatic habitats on the utilization of methylamine, the simplest methylated amine, have mainly focussed on the fate of the carbon from this compound. Various groups of methylotrophs, microorganisms that can grow on one-carbon compounds, use methylamine as a carbon source. Non-methylotrophic microorganisms may also utilize methylamine as a nitrogen source, but little is known about their diversity, especially in the marine environment. In this proof-of-concept study, stable isotope probing (SIP) was used to identify microorganisms from a coastal environment that assimilate nitrogen from methylamine. SIP experiments using15N methylamine combined with metagenomics and metaproteomics facilitated identification of active methylamine-utilizing Alpha- and Gammaproteobacteria. The draft genomes of two methylamine utilizers were obtained and their metabolism with respect to methylamine was examined. Both bacteria identified in these SIP experiments used the γ-glutamyl-methylamide pathway, found in both methylotrophs and non-methylotrophs, to metabolize methylamine. The utilization of15N methylamine also led to the release of15N ammonium that was used as nitrogen source by other microorganisms not directly using methylamine.
authors.affiliation: Aquatic Geomicrobiology, Institute of Ecology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Dornburger Str. 159, Jena, 07743, Germany.|School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Taubert
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK.
authors.forename: Carolina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Grob
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK.
authors.forename: Alexandra M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Howat
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK.
authors.forename: Oliver J
authors.initials: OJ
authors.lastname: Burns
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pratscher
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Systems Biology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Leipzig, Germany.
authors.forename: Nico
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Jehmlich
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Systems Biology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Leipzig, Germany.|Institute of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biosciences, Pharmacy and Psychology, University of Leipzig, Brüderstraße 32, Leipzig, 04103, Germany.|Department of Chemistry and Bioscience, University of Aalborg, Fredrik Bajers Vej 7H, Aalborg East, 9220, Denmark.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: von Bergen
authors.affiliation: Department of Isotope Biogeochemistry, Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Permoserstrasse 15, Leipzig, 04318, Germany.
authors.forename: Hans H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Richnow
authors.affiliation: School of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL, UK.
authors.forename: Yin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, NR4 7TJ, UK.
authors.forename: J Colin
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Murrell
mesh_terms: D020561:Alphaproteobacteria / Q000378:metabolism*; D002244:Carbon / Q000378:metabolism; D002247:Carbon Isotopes / Q000378:metabolism; D017753:Ecosystem; D020563:Gammaproteobacteria / Q000378:metabolism*; D056186:Metagenomics; D008744:Methylamines / Q000378:metabolism*; D009584:Nitrogen / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D002247:Carbon Isotopes; D008744:Methylamines; D002244:Carbon; C027451:methylamine; D009584:Nitrogen