Abstract
In low-phosphorus (P) marine systems, phytoplankton replace membrane phospholipids with non-phosphorus lipids, but it is not known how rapidly this substitution occurs. Here, when cells of the model diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana were transferred from P-replete medium to P-free medium, the phospholipid content of the cells rapidly declined within 48 h from 45±0.9 to 21±4.5% of the total membrane lipids; the difference was made up by non-phosphorus lipids. Conversely, when P-limited T. pseudonana were resupplied with P, cells reduced the percentage of their total membrane lipids contributed by a non-phosphorus lipid from 43±1.5 to 7.3±0.9% within 24 h, whereas the contribution by phospholipids rose from 2.2±0.1 to 44±3%. This dynamic phospholipid reservoir contained sufficient P to synthesize multiple haploid genomes, suggesting that phospholipid turnover could be an important P source for cells. Field observations of phytoplankton lipid content may thus reflect short-term changes in P supply and cellular physiology, rather than simply long-term adjustment to the environment.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Helen Fredericks for help with chromatography and mass spectrometry, and two anonymous reviewers for constructive criticism. This research was funded by NSF OCE-0646944 and OCE-1045670 (BVM), OCE-0723677 and OCE-0549794 (STD), and by the Graduate School, National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (PM).
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Martin, P., Van Mooy, B., Heithoff, A. et al. Phosphorus supply drives rapid turnover of membrane phospholipids in the diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana. ISME J 5, 1057–1060 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/ismej.2010.192
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ismej.2010.192
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