Extended Data Fig. 7: Accumulated acrylate protects Puniceibacterium antarcticum SM1211 from protozoan predation.
From: Acrylate protects a marine bacterium from grazing by a ciliate predator
a, Spatio-temporal variation of the acrylate concentration. Acrylate produced by a 1-μm radius SM1211 cell, and time elapsed after acrylate production. b, The proposed chemical defense strategy adopted by strain SM1211 with DMSP as the precursor compound. DMSP produced mostly by phytoplankton can be released into the environment via grazing or viral lysis. The membrane-localized DddL of strain SM1211 cleaves DMSP to generate acrylate, which forms a defense shelter to protect against the predator Uronema marinum which are attracted by DMSP and the co-generated DMS. The defense function of the acrylate shelter counteracts the foraging response of U. marinum to strain SM1211 and transfers grazing pressure to non-dddL-containing strains, reducing population losses of strain SM1211. OM, outer membrane; IM, inner membrane.
