Some New Aspects of Bacterial-Algal and Bacterial-Bacterial Interactions in the Marine Environment
Marine algae and bacterial often do not live a solitary lifestyle but rather exist in a mixed community. The interaction of bacteria with algae can be either beneficial (mutualisticor symbiotic) or deleterious (algicidal) and when beneficial it is often obligate or nearly so. Hence many marine algae cannot be maintained in culture for long periods of time without their associated microbiome. While it is clear that the algae can provide the bacteria with fixed carbon, what do these microbes supply to the algae? One possibility to be discussed is the vital trace element iron. In addition species of bacteria which are algal associated find themselves in competition with each other at the algal surface for space and nutrients. How is inter or intraspecies competition for these and other environmental niches controlled? Using bacteria from the genus Marinobacter (often present in the core microbiome of phytoplankton such as dinoflagellates) we describe a new form of non-lethal sibling colony inhibition that may provide clues about how bacterial populations on algae can be controlled.
Host: Hans-Peter Grossart