The transport of phosphate (Pi) between subcellular compartments is central to metabolic regulation. Although some of the transporters involved in controlling the intracellular distribution of Pi have been identified in plants, others are predicted from genetic and biochemical studies. The Arabidopsis thaliana genome encodes a family of six proteins that share similarity with SLC17/type I Pi transporters, a diverse group of animal proteins involved in the transport of Pi, organic anions and chloride. Heterologous expression in yeast, and gene expression and localization studies in plants were used to characterize all six members of this Arabidopsis family, which we have named PHT4. All of the PHT4 proteins mediate Pi transport in yeast with high specificity. Bioinformatic analysis and localization of PHT4-GFP fusion proteins indicate that five of the proteins are targeted to the plastid inner envelope membrane, and the sixth resides in the Golgi apparatus. PHT4 genes are expressed in both roots and leaves although two of the genes are expressed predominantly in leaves and one mostly in roots. These expression patterns, together with Pi transport activities and subcellular locations, suggest roles for PHT4 proteins in the transport of Pi between the cytosol and chloroplasts, heterotrophic plastids and the Golgi apparatus.

No description available.

The overall aim of this thesis was to determine the relative importance of heterotrophy and autotrophy in lake plankton. Empirical analyses using extensive surveys of literature data revealed three specific patterns in metabolism and biomass structure in freshwater plankton. First, the ratio of phytoplankton production to plankton respiration (P/R ratio) tends to be low in unproductive lakes ($<$1), and increases along gradients of enrichment. Second, the contribution of planktonic heterotrophs (bacteria and zooplankton) to community respiration is highest in oligotrophic lakes. Third, planktonic heterotrophs dominate community biomass in oligotrophic lakes, whereas phytoplankton increasingly dominate plankton biomass along gradients of enrichment. These three distinct patterns were then tested simultaneously in a set of lakes that span a wide trophic gradient. Results indicated that the plankton of oligotrophic and mesotrophic lakes were characterized by P/R ratios well below unity, and a high contribution of heterotrophs to both community respiration and biomass. These trends are completely the opposite in the most productive lakes. The plankton communities of oligotrophic temperate lakes are predominantly heterotrophic and extensively utilize external inputs of carbon, and therefore only the plankton of eutrophic lakes conformed to the classical phytoplankton-based food web. In most lakes, excess heterotrophic activity could be supported by inputs of organic matter from the drainage basin. Excess plankton respiration, fueled by allochthonous organic carbon, could represent an important source of CO$ sb2$ to lakes.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Uppsala : Uppsala universitet, 2005. / Härtill 5 uppsatser. Med sammanfattning på svenska och tyska.

No description available.

No description available.

This thesis makes several contributions to improve our understanding of Proterozoic-Cambrian evolution of eukaryote life. Chapter 1 provides, for the first time, a quantitative characterization of the evolutionary trends of Proterozoic macroalgae. The analysis reveals that morphological disparity of Paleoproterozoic macroalgae was low but increased in the Mesoproterozoic and Ediacaran, with a plateau in between. There was also a significant increase in thallus surface/volume ratio and maximum canopy height of the Ediacaran macroalgal communities. The prolonged plateau between the Mesoproterozoic and Ediacaran may be related to either nutrient stress or the absence of animal grazing pressure. The Ediacaran increase in surface/volume ratio and morphological complexity may have been driven by decreasing pCO₂ levels and increasing animal grazing pressure. Chapter 2 presents a systematic re-examination of the carbonaceous compression fossils Protoarenicola baiguashanensis Wang, 1982, Pararenicola huaiyuanensis Wang, 1982, and Sinosabellidites huainanensis Zheng, 1980, from the early Neoproterozoic Liulaobei and Jiuliqiao formations in northern Anhui, North China. These fossils were previously interpreted as worm-like metazoans. Our study reveals new morphological features that weaken the metazoan interpretation. Instead, the new data indicate that these fossils can be alternatively interpreted as erect epibenthic organisms, possibly coenocytic algae. Chapter 3 examines two important eukaryote fossils: Horodyskia Yochelson and Fedonkin, 2000, and Palaeopascichnus Palij, 1976, from the upper Ediacaran chert of the Liuchapo Formation in central Guizhou, South China. These exceptionally preserved fossils offer us a unique opportunity to investigate their body constructions and affinities. The morphologies of Horodyskia and Palaeopascichnus support a phylogenetic relationship with agglutinated foraminifers, shedding new light on the divergence of bikont eukaryotes, the rise of rhizarians, and the ecological importance of heterotrophic eukaryotes in Proterozoic ecosystems. Chapter 4 focuses on Cambrian microfossils that represent the primary producers' cyanobacteria and eukaryotic phytoplankton (acritarchs). Careful investigation of the basal Cambrian Yanjiahe Formation in the Yangtze Gorges area and the Yurtus Formation in the Aksu area revealed abundant acanthomorphic acritarchs, clustered coccoidal microfossils, filamentous cyanobacteria, and tubular microfossils. This study confirms previous stratigraphic correlation between the Yanjiahe and Yurtus formations and suggests that animals and phytoplankton radiated in tandem during the Cambrian explosion. / Ph. D.

Heterotrophic bacterioplankton plays a pivotal role in marine food webs and biogeochemical cycling. However, their temporal dynamics and underlying factors are still poorly understood in many regions, including the tropical waters of the Red Sea. The main goal of the MS project was to describe the seasonality and assess the impact of top-down controls (viruses and heterotrophic nanoflagellates) in parallel to bottom-up controls (substrate availability) on coastal bacterioplankton on a weekly basis. To that end, we monitored the abundance of the different planktonic groups by flow cytometry together with a set of environmental variables including temperature, salinity, dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and nitrogen (DON) and chlorophyll a concentration. We analyzed a weekly dataset collected over 2017 at the surface water of KAUST Harbor. The abundance of heterotrophic bacteria ranged from 1.55 to 4.97 x 105 cells ml-1, with that of autotrophic bacteria 4 to 14 fold less on average and presents 1 x 104 to 1.19x105 cells ml-1, while viruses ranged from 1.30 x 106 to 1.59 x 107 particles ml-1, and heterotrophic nanoflagellates (HNF) ranged from 8.62 x 10 to 1.63 x 103 cells ml-1. We distinguished between five groups of heterotrophic bacteria depending on the relative nucleic acid content, membrane state and cell-specific metabolic activity, two groups of Synechococcus, as well as three groups of viruses based on relative nucleic acid content. We found unexpected inverse relationship between viruses and HNFs. Based on a strong negative correlation, the results suggest that viruses controlled heterotrophic bacteria during summer until early winter period. HNFs showed a selective grazing behavior based their apparent preference to prey on both high (HNA) and low nucleic acid bacteria (LNA). Our results demonstrates that top-down control are key agents of heterotrophic bacterioplankton mortality and more important than bottom-up control in governing heterotrophic bacterioplankton abundances in the coastal tropical waters of the Red Sea.

Recent studies demonstrate that the dissolved iron in seawater is bound to strong organic complexes that have stability constants comparable to those of microbial iron chelates (siderophores). We investigated iron acquisition by 7 strains of heterotrophic marine bacteria using siderophores as a model for the natural iron-binding ligands. Siderophores were detected in the supernatants of 4 strains. All strains utilized iron bound to siderophores regardless of whether they produced their own. The majority took up iron bound to the fungal siderophore desferrioxamine B (dfoB). Over half also utilized iron bound to strain Neptune's siderophore, nep-L, while iron bound to pwf-L was available solely to the producing strain, Pwf3. Uptake rates of Fe-siderophores were similar among iron-limited strains and among ligands. Transport of Fe-dfoB in Neptune was enhanced 20 times by iron limitation. The half-saturation constant of Fe-dfoB transport was 15 nM, the lowest reported for Fe-siderophore transport in microorganisms. In contrast, uptake of inorganic iron (Fe' ) by iron-limited Neptune did not saturate at the highest concentration tested and was not upregulated under iron stress. This suggests that Fe ' uptake occurs by simple diffusion through the outer membrane. / Strain Lmg1, the sole catechol producer, did not take up iron bound to exogenous siderophores (dfoB, pwf-L, or nep-L). However, it utilized iron bound to its own ligand and, possibly, iron bound to the synthetic chelator EDTA. Transport of Fe' by iron-limited Lmg1 was 10 times higher than in the other strains and was upregulated 46 times in low iron conditions. The results suggest iron transport in Lmg 1 may be mediated by surface-associated catechol siderophores that scavenge inorganic ferric species as well as iron bound to weaker complexes, such as EDTA. This study elucidates the importance of siderophores in iron transport by heterotrophic marine bacteria. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Despite being abundant in the earth's crust, the concentration of Fe in many oceanic regions is so low that it is limiting to the growth of photosynthetic plankton. Heterotrophic bacteria play key roles in the oceanic cycling of carbon and nutrients, but it is unclear whether they can be Fe-deficient in nature, or what possible effects Fe-deficiency might have on their ecology and physiology. In chapter 1, I investigated the response of a natural bacterial community to a mesoscale Fe-enrichment experiment in the northeast subarctic Pacific. The addition of Fe to surface waters caused a rapid stimulation of bacterial growth and production, and induced the organic Fe uptake systems of bacteria. These findings suggest that bacteria responded directly to increased Fe availability, and may be Fe-deficient in situ. In chapter 2, I examined the effects of Fe-deficiency on the coupled processes of carbon catabolism and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) production in cultures of the marine bacterium Pseudoalteromonas haloplanktis. In Fe-limited cells, Fe-dependent oxidative pathways of ATP production were downregulated, leading to an intracellular energy deficit. Thus, by altering carbon metabolism and energy acquisition of heterotrophic bacteria, Fe may affect the cycling of carbon in parts of the sea.