Stoichiometric flexibility in diverse aquatic heterotrophic bacteria is coupled to differences in cellular phosphorus quotas

It is frequently presumed that heterotrophic bacteria from aquatic environments have low carbon (C) content, high phosphorus (P) content, and maintain homeostasis at low C:P in their biomass. Dissolved and particulate organic matter from primary producers in terrestrial and aquatic environments typically has high C:P ratios, suggesting that heterotrophic bacteria consuming this resource experience stoichiometric imbalance in C and P. The strength of elemental homeostasis is important for understanding how heterotrophic bacteria couple C and P cycles in response to environmental change, yet these generalizations are based upon data from only a few species that might not represent the physiology of bacteria in freshwaters. However, recent research has indicated that some strains of bacteria isolated from freshwaters have flexible C:P stoichiometry and can acclimate to changes in resource C:P. Although it is apparent that strains differ in their biomass C:P and flexibility, the basis for these characteristics has not been explained. We evaluated biomass C:P homeostasis in 24 strains of bacteria isolated from temperate lakes using a uniform relative growth rate in chemostats. Overall, the strains exhibited a range of homeostatic regulation from strong homeostasis to highly flexible biomass stoichiometry, but strains that were isolated using P-rich media formulations were more homeostatic than strains isolated using P-poor media. Strains exhibiting homeostatic biomass C:P had high cellular C and P content and showed little morphological change between C and P limitation. In contrast, stoichiometrically flexible strains had low P quotas and increased their C quotas and cell size under P limitation. Because stoichiometric flexibility is closely coupled to absolute P content in bacteria, anthropogenic inputs of P could lead to prevalence of more homeostatic bacteria, reducing the ability of natural assemblages to buffer changes in the availability of P and organic C.