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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Marine Sequestration Of Carbon In Bacterial Metabolites, Oliver J. Lechtenfeld, Norbert Hertkorn, Yuan Shen, Matthias Witt, Ronald Benner
Marine Sequestration Of Carbon In Bacterial Metabolites, Oliver J. Lechtenfeld, Norbert Hertkorn, Yuan Shen, Matthias Witt, Ronald Benner
Faculty Publications
Linking microbial metabolomics and carbon sequestration in the ocean via refractory organic molecules has been hampered by the chemical complexity of dissolved organic matter (DOM). Here, using bioassay experiments and ultra-high resolution metabolic profiling, we demonstrate that marine bacteria rapidly utilize simple organic molecules and produce exometabolites of remarkable molecular and structural diversity. Bacterial DOM is similar in chemical composition and structural complexity to naturally occurring DOM in sea water. An appreciable fraction of bacterial DOM has molecular and structural properties that are consistent with those of refractory molecules in the ocean, indicating a dominant role for bacteria in shaping …