ALBERT

Description: As assay for lipophilic pigments in phototrophic microbial mat communities using reverse phase-high performance liquid chromatography was developed which allows the separation of 15 carotenoids and chloropigments in a single 30 min program. Lipophilic pigments in a laminated mat from a commercial salina near Laguna Guerrero Negro, Baja California Sur, Mexico reflected their source organisms. Myxoxanthophyll, echinenone, canthaxanthin, and zeaxanthin were derived from cyanobacteria; chlorophyll c, and fucoxanthin from diatoms; chlorophyll a from cyanobacteria and diatoms; bacteriochlorophylls a and c, bacteriophaeophytin a, and gamma-carotene from Chloroflexus spp.; and beta-carotene from a variety of phototrophs. Sensitivity of detection was 0.6-6.1 ng for carotenoids and 1.7-12 ng for most chloropigments. This assay represents a significant improvement over previous analyses of lipophilic pigments in microbial mats and promises to have a wider application to other types of phototrophic communities.

Description: We studied adaptation to spectral light distribution in undisturbed benthic communities of cyanobacterial mats growing in hypersaline ponds at Guerrero Negro, Baja California, Mexico. Microscale measurements of oxygen photosynthesis and action spectra were performed with microelectrodes; spectral radiance was measured with fiber-optic microprobes. The spatial resolution of all measurements was 0.1 mm, and the spectral resolution was 10 to 15 nm. Light attenuation spectra showed absorption predominantly by chlorophyll a (Chl a) (430 and 670 nm), phycocyanin (620 nm), and carotenoids (440 to 500 nm). Blue light (450 nm) was attenuated 10-fold more strongly than red light (600 nm). The action spectra of the surface film of diatoms accordingly showed activity over the whole spectrum, with maxima for Chl a and carotenoids. The underlying dense Microcoleus population showed almost exclusively activity dependent upon light harvesting by phycobilins at 550 to 660 nm. Maximum activity was at 580 and 650 nm, indicating absorption by phycoerythrin and phycocyanin as well as by allophycocyanin. Very little Chl a-dependent activity could be detected in the cyanobacterial action spectrum, even with additional 600-nm light to excite photosystem II. The depth distribution of photosynthesis showed detectable activity down to a depth of 0.8 to 2.5 mm, where the downwelling radiant flux at 600 nm was reduced to 0.2 to 0.6% of the surface flux.

Description: Lipophilic pigments were examined in microbial mat communities dominated by cyanobacteria in the intertidal zone and by diatoms in the subtidal and sublittoral zones of Hamelin Pool, Shark Bay, Western Australia. These microbial mats have evolutionary significance because of their similarity to lithfied stromatolites from the Proterozoic and Early Paleozoic eras. Fucoxanthin, diatoxanthin, diadinoxanthin, beta-carotene, and chlorophylls a and c characterized the diatom mats, whereas cyanobacterial mats contained myxoxanthophyll, zeaxanthin, echinenone, beta-carotene, chlorophyll a and, in some cases, sheath pigment. The presence of bacteriochlorophyll a within the mats suggest a close association of photosynthetic bacteria with diatoms and cyanobacteria. The high carotenoids : chlorophyll a ratios (0.84-2.44 wt/wt) in the diatom mats suggest that carotenoids served a photoprotective function in this high light environment. By contrast, cyanobacterial sheath pigment may have largely supplanted the photoprotective role of carotenoids in the intertidal mats.

Description: The molecular and isotopic compositions of lipid biomarkers of cultured Aquificales genera have been used to study the community and trophic structure of the hyperthermophilic pink streamers and vent biofilm from Octopus Spring. Thermocrinis ruber, Thermocrinis sp. strain HI 11/12, Hydrogenobacter thermophilus TK-6, Aquifex pyrophilus, and Aquifex aeolicus all contained glycerol-ether phospholipids as well as acyl glycerides. The n-C(20:1) and cy-C(21) fatty acids dominated all of the Aquificales, while the alkyl glycerol ethers were mainly C(18:0). These Aquificales biomarkers were major constituents of the lipid extracts of two Octopus Spring samples, a biofilm associated with the siliceous vent walls, and the well-known pink streamer community (PSC). Both the biofilm and the PSC contained mono- and dialkyl glycerol ethers in which C(18) and C(20) alkyl groups were prevalent. Phospholipid fatty acids included both the Aquificales n-C(20:1) and cy-C(21), plus a series of iso-branched fatty acids (i-C(15:0) to i-C(21:0)), indicating an additional bacterial component. Biomass and lipids from the PSC were depleted in (13)C relative to source water CO(2) by 10.9 and 17.2 per thousand, respectively. The C(20-21) fatty acids of the PSC were less depleted than the iso-branched fatty acids, 18.4 and 22.6 per thousand, respectively. The biomass of T. ruber grown on CO(2) was depleted in (13)C by only 3.3 per thousand relative to C source. In contrast, biomass was depleted by 19.7 per thousand when formate was the C source. Independent of carbon source, T. ruber lipids were heavier than biomass (+1.3 per thousand). The depletion in the C(20-21) fatty acids from the PSC indicates that Thermocrinis biomass must be similarly depleted and too light to be explained by growth on CO(2). Accordingly, Thermocrinis in the PSC is likely to have utilized formate, presumably generated in the spring source region.