Dimethylsulfoniopropionate biosynthesis in marine bacteria and identification of the key gene in this process

Curson, Andrew R. J., Liu, Ji, Bermejo Martinez, Ana, Green, Robert T., Chan, Yohan, Carrión, Ornella, Williams, Beth T. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8594-1269, Zhang, Sheng-Hui, Yang, Gui-Peng, Bulman Page, Philip C., Zhang, Xiao-Hua and Todd, Jonathan D. (2017) Dimethylsulfoniopropionate biosynthesis in marine bacteria and identification of the key gene in this process. Nature Microbiology, 2.

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Abstract

Dimethylsulphoniopropionate (DMSP) is one of the Earth’s most abundant organosulphur molecules, a signalling molecule, a key nutrient for marine microorganisms, and the major precursor for gaseous dimethyl sulphide (DMS). DMS, another infochemical in signalling pathways, is important in global sulphur cycling2, and affects the Earth’s albedo, and potentially climate, via sulphate aerosol and cloud condensation nuclei production. It was thought that only eukaryotes produce significant amounts of DMSP, but here we demonstrate that many marine heterotrophic bacteria also produce DMSP, likely using the same methionine (Met) transamination pathway as macroalgae and phytoplankton10. We identify the first DMSP synthesis gene in any organism, dsyB, which encodes the key methyltransferase enzyme of this pathway and is a reliable reporter for bacterial DMSP synthesis in marine alphaproteobacteria. DMSP production and dsyB transcription are upregulated by increased salinity, nitrogen limitation and lower temperatures in our model DMSP-producing bacterium Labrenzia aggregata LZB033. With significant numbers of dsyB homologues in marine metagenomes, we propose that bacteria likely make a significant contribution to oceanic DMSP production. Furthermore, since DMSP production is not solely associated with obligate phototrophs, the process need not be confined to the photic zones of marine environments, and as such may have been underestimated

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	dmsp,sulfur,biogeochemical cycles,bacteria,marine microbiology,sdg 13 - climate action,sdg 14 - life below water ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/climate_action
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Science > School of Biological Sciences Faculty of Science > School of Chemistry
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Environmental Biology Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Resources, Sustainability and Governance (former - to 2018) Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Synthetic Chemistry (former - to 2017) Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Molecular Microbiology Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Chemistry of Materials and Catalysis
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	18 Feb 2017 02:17
Last Modified:	05 Apr 2023 22:30
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/62649
DOI:	10.1038/nmicrobiol.2017.9

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