Environmental Marine Biotechnology
Summary
Environmental marine biotechnology explores the ways in which molecules, pathways and organisms from the sea can be harnessed to address challenges in carbon and sulfur cycling, pollution mitigation and ecosystem health. Central topics include the roles of dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) and its transformation products in microbial food webs and climate feedbacks; the production and fate of reactive oxygen species (ROS) as drivers of redox chemistry and signalling in marine waters; and the employment of marine‐derived enzymes and microbes for bioremediation of hydrocarbons and other contaminants. Recent advances in microbial ecology, genomics and enzyme discovery have reshaped our understanding of how bacteria and phytoplankton interact through exchange of small metabolites, how deep‐sea organisms adapt biochemically to extreme pressures, and how these processes can be directed toward applied solutions such as enhanced carbon export or pollutant degradation.
Research from Nature Portfolio
Marine bacteria possess powerful chemotactic behaviours toward algal polysaccharides, and this attraction is greatly enhanced by ambient DMSP. By acting as a methyl donor in chemosensory pathways, DMSP sharpens gradient detection, speeding bacterial access to nutrient‐rich microzones and accelerating polymer breakdown. In the aphotic deep ocean, heterotrophic bacteria not only carry the dsyB gene for DMSP synthesis but upregulate its expression under high hydrostatic pressure, suggesting a protective role for DMSP in stress tolerance and a major bacterial contribution to sulfur cycling well below the photic zone. A related sulfonium compound, dimethylsulfoxonium propionate (DMSOP), has been shown to be cleaved by a widespread family of lyase enzymes in bacteria, fungi and algae, unveiling a broader array of sulfonium‐metabolite turnover in sediments with implications for global carbon and sulfur fluxes.
Environmental Marine Biotechnology publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in environmental marine biotechnology across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP): A ubiquitous organosulfur compound produced by marine phytoplankton and bacteria that functions as an osmolyte, antioxidant and precursor of climate‐active dimethyl sulfide.
Dimethyl sulfide (DMS): A volatile cleavage product of DMSP that escapes to the atmosphere and participates in aerosol formation and cloud condensation nuclei generation.
Chemotaxis: The directed movement of motile bacteria along chemical gradients, here enhanced by DMSP to locate polysaccharide hotspots.
dsyB gene: The bacterial gene encoding DMSP methyltransferase, responsible for de novo DMSP synthesis, especially under high‐pressure deep‐sea conditions.
Lyase enzyme: A class of enzymes (e.g., Ddd or Alma families) that cleave sulfonium compounds such as DMSP and DMSOP to release acrylate and related products.
Methanolobus methanogens: Archaeal methylotrophs that can use non‐specific methyltransferases to convert DMS into methane in anoxic sediments.
Secondary‐ion mass spectrometry: A high‐resolution imaging technique that tracks isotopic labels to visualise subcellular distributions of small metabolites like DMSP.
References
- Strong chemotaxis by marine bacteria towards polysaccharides is enhanced by the abundant organosulfur compound DMSP. Nature Communications (2023).
- Bacteria are important dimethylsulfoniopropionate producers in marine aphotic and high-pressure environments. Nature Communications (2020).
- DMSOP-cleaving enzymes are diverse and widely distributed in marine microorganisms. Nature Microbiology (2023).
- Methanolobus use unspecific methyltransferases to produce methane from dimethylsulphide in Baltic Sea sediments. Microbiome (2024).
- Evolution of Dimethylsulfoniopropionate Metabolism in Marine Phytoplankton and Bacteria. Frontiers in Microbiology (2017).
- Subcellular tracking reveals the location of dimethylsulfoniopropionate in microalgae and visualises its uptake by marine bacteria. eLife (2017).
- Marine Biotechnology.
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