Estimation of bacterial use of dissolved organic nitrogen compounds in aquatic ecosystems using Biolog plates

AME Aquatic Microbial Ecology Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsSpecials AME 42:1-5 (2006) - doi:10.3354/ame042001 Estimation of bacterial use of dissolved organic nitrogen compounds in aquatic ecosystems using Biolog plates M. Montserrat Sala1,*, Jarone Pinhassi2, Josep M. Gasol1 1Departament de Biologia Marina i Oceanografia, Institut de Ciències del Mar, Centre Mediterrani d'Investigacions Marines i Ambientals (CSIC), Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta 37–49, 08003 Barcelona, Spain 2Marine Microbiology, Department of Biology and Environmental Sciences, University of Kalmar, 39182 Kalmar, Sweden *Email: msala@icm.csic.es ABSTRACT: We demonstrated that bacterioplankton utilization of N-containing substrates, in relation to overall substrate utilization, can be assessed by calculating a nitrogen use (NUSE) index from Biolog-ECO microplate readings. The NUSE index was positively correlated with bacterial-specific aminopeptidase activity in coastal plankton samples, and it decreased after ammonia or amino acid addition to seawater cultures; this indicated that the index was sensitive to changes in N concentrations in natural samples. The index provides valuable information on dissolved organic nitrogen processing by natural bacterial assemblages, and thereby substantially expands the utility of the Biolog-ECO microplates. KEY WORDS: Biolog · Bacterioplankton · Substrate utilization · Dissolved organic nitrogen · DON · Nutrients · Amino acids Full text in pdf format NextExport citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in AME Vol. 42, No. 1. Online publication date: February 06, 2006 Print ISSN: 0948-3055; Online ISSN: 1616-1564 Copyright © 2006 Inter-Research.