Comparison of the effect of salinity on the D/H ratio of fatty acids of heterotrophic and photoautotrophic microorganisms

S.M. Heinzelmann, David Chivall, D. M'Boule, Daniëlle Sinke-Schoen, Laura Villanueva, J.S. Sinninghe Damste, Stefan Schouten, Marcel T J Van der Meer

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

The core metabolism of microorganisms has a major influence on the hydrogen isotopic composition of their fatty acids. Heterotrophic microorganisms produce fatty acids with a deuterium to hydrogen (D/H) ratio either slightly depleted or enriched in D compared to the growth water, while photo- and chemoautotrophic microorganisms produce fatty acids which are heavily depleted in D. However, besides metabolism other biochemical and environmental factors (i.e. biosynthetic pathways, growth phase and temperature) have been shown to affect the D/H ratio of fatty acids, and it is necessary to evaluate the magnitude of these effects compared to that of metabolism. Here, we show that the effect of salinity on the D/H ratio of fatty acids depends on the core metabolism of the microorganism. While fatty acids of the photoautotroph Isochrysis galbana become more enriched in D with increasing salinity (enrichment of 30–40‰ over a range of 25 salinity units), no effect of salinity on the D/H ratio of fatty acids of the heterotrophic Pseudomonas str. LFY10 was observed (εlipid/water of the C16:0 fatty acid of ∼120‰ over a range of 10 salinity units). This can likely be explained by the relative contributions of different H and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate sources during fatty acid biosynthesis.
Original languageEnglish
Article numberfnv065
Number of pages6
JournalFEMS Microbiology Letters
Volume362
Issue number10
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Apr 2015

Keywords

  • metabolism
  • salinity
  • hydrogen isotopes
  • deuterium
  • fatty acids
  • photoautotrophs
  • heterotrophs
  • Isochrysis galbana
  • Pseudomonas
  • cultivation

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