Biochemistry: a cadmium enzyme from a marine diatom

The ocean biota contains a vast reservoir of genomic diversity. Here we present the sequence and preliminary characterization of a protein that is a cadmium-containing carbonic anhydrase from the marine diatom Thalassiosira weissflogii. The existence of a cadmium enzyme in marine phytoplankton may indicate that there is a unique selection pressure for metalloenzymes in the marine environment, and our discovery provides a long-awaited explanation for the nutrient-like behaviour of cadmium in the oceans.     

Characteristics of C4 photosynthesis in stems and petioles of C3 flowering plants.

Most plants are known as C3 plants because the first product of photosynthetic CO2 fixation is a three-carbon compound. C4 plants, which use an alternative pathway in which the first product is a four-carbon compound, have evolved independently many times and are found in at least 18 families. In addition to differences in their biochemistry, photosynthetic organs of C4 plants show alterations in their anatomy and ultrastructure. Little is known about whether the biochemical or anatomical characteristics of C4 photosynthesis evolved first. Here we report that tobacco, a typical C3 plant, shows characteristics of C4 photosynthesis in cells of stems and petioles that surround the xylem and phloem, and that these cells are supplied with carbon for photosynthesis from the vascular system and not from stomata. These photosynthetic cells possess high activities of enzymes characteristic of C4 photosynthesis, which allow the decarboxylation of four-carbon organic acids from the xylem and phloem, thus releasing CO2 for photosynthesis. These biochemical characteristics of C4 photosynthesis in cells around the vascular bundles of stems of C3 plants might explain why C4 photosynthesis has evolved independently many times.     

Copepod hatching success in marine ecosystems with high diatom concentrations

Diatoms dominate spring bloom phytoplankton assemblages in temperate waters and coastal upwelling regions of the global ocean. Copepods usually dominate the zooplankton in these regions and are the prey of many larval fish species. Recent laboratory studies suggest that diatoms may have a deleterious effect on the success of copepod egg hatching. These findings challenge the classical view of marine food-web energy flow from diatoms to fish by means of copepods. Egg mortality is an important factor in copepod population dynamics, thus, if diatoms have a deleterious in situ effect, paradoxically, high diatom abundance could limit secondary production. Therefore, the current understanding of energy transfer from primary production to fisheries in some of the most productive and economically important marine ecosystems may be seriously flawed. Here we present in situ estimates of copepod egg hatching success from twelve globally distributed areas, where diatoms dominate the phytoplankton assemblage. We did not observe a negative relationship between copepod egg hatching success and either diatom biomass or dominance in the microplankton in any of these regions. The classical model for diatom-dominated system remains valid.     

Kranz anatomy is not essential for terrestrial C4 plant photosynthesis.

An important adaptation to CO2-limited photosynthesis in cyanobacteria, algae and some plants was development of CO2-concentrating mechanisms (CCM). Evolution of a CCM occurred many times in flowering plants, beginning at least 15-20 million years ago, in response to atmospheric CO2 reduction, climate change, geological trends, and evolutionary diversification of species. In plants, this is achieved through a biochemical inorganic carbon pump called C4 photosynthesis, discovered 35 years ago. C4 photosynthesis is advantageous when limitations on carbon acquisition are imposed by high temperature, drought and saline conditions. It has been thought that a specialized leaf anatomy, composed of two, distinctive photosynthetic cell types (Kranz anatomy), is required for C4 photosynthesis. We provide evidence that C4 photosynthesis can function within a single photosynthetic cell in terrestrial plants. Borszczowia aralocaspica (Chenopodiaceae) has the photosynthetic features of C4 plants, yet lacks Kranz anatomy. This species accomplishes C4 photosynthesis through spatial compartmentation of photosynthetic enzymes, and by separation of two types of chloroplasts and other organelles in distinct positions within the chlorenchyma cell cytoplasm.     

铁对尖刺拟菱形藻生长及光合作用的影响

目的:研究铁对尖刺拟菱形藻生长及光合作用的影响,探讨其作用机制及生态意义.方法:以赤潮硅藻尖刺拟菱形藻为材料,采用细胞计数、测光合放氧和测DCMU增益叶绿素荧光的方法,研究了不同铁浓度对该藻生长和光合作用的影响.结果:尖刺拟菱形藻的最适生长铁浓度为10-7～10-6mol/L,缺铁(10-9～10-8mol/L)抑制其生长.在10-9～10-6mol/L,随着铁浓度的增加,光合放氧及叶绿素合成均受到促进,荧光增益比率FD/FN上升,荧光产额F/Chla下降.结论:缺铁使光合器官吸收的光能减少,光合电子传递链的活性降低,从而抑制光合作用,延缓生长.提出"临界铁浓度"概念,并有可能作为预报赤潮的指标.     

Effects of ultraviolet radiation B （UV-B） on photosynthesis of natural phytoplankton assemblages in a marine bay in Southern China

Solar ultraviolet radiation B (UVB) is known to have inhibitive effects on phytoplankton photosynthesis. UVB light decreases rapidly with increasing depth in the water column and exerts different degrees of UVB inhibitive effects on phytoplankton photosynthesis. In this study, the objectives were to quantify effects of UVB on phytoplankton photosynthesis and quantum yield, and to examine UVB effects on phytoplankton photosynthesis when light varies. The insitu experiments were conducted in Da Ya Bay, which is a semienclosed area in the subtropical South China. The results showed a significant reduction of photosynthetic rates and quantum yield in the presence of UVB. Maximum photosynthetic rates (Pmax) and maximum quantum yield (Φmax) were 11%-22% and 17%-49% less under solar radiation with UVB than without UVB. A simplified model was developed to describe the UVB biologically effective fluence rate (E*inh) as an exponential decay function of depth. Light-shift experiments, in which water samples from the surface and at depth of 4 m were divided into several subsamples, and each subsamples were then incubated at different depths with and without UVB in the water column, showed that phytoplankton from the deeper water (4 m) had more inhibitive rates by UVB than that from the surface when exposed to the same light condition.     

上海-南极海洋边界层大气CH4浓度及其δ13C空间分布特征

在中国第22次南极科学考察期间,用Tedlar气袋采集了"雪龙号"考察船航线上海洋边界层大气样品,在室内分析了样品中CH4浓度及其分子的δ13C值,结果表明:在28.5°N~40°S区域,海洋边界层大气CH4浓度波动较大,峰值较多,平均值为(2.97±1.51)×10-6,明显高于全球大气CH4的平均浓度(约1.8×10-6),这主要与该区域的航迹靠近陆地,受人为源的影响有关;在40°S~69.17°S航迹,远离人类活动区,洋面大气CH4的浓度较稳定,平均浓度值为(1.92±0.14)×10-6,接近于目前全球大气CH4平均浓度.航线上CH4分子的δ13C的变化范围为:-37.49‰~-24.87‰,平均为-34.5±3.0‰.在28.5°N~40°S区域,边界层大气中CH4分子的δ13C值较高且波动较大,表明洋面大气的CH4浓度受到来自富13C的化石燃料、生物质燃烧等人为源的强烈影响;在40°S~69.17°S区域,δ13C值较稳定.海洋边界层大气的CH4浓度分布与大气温度也存在相关性.     

Unicellular cyanobacteria fix N2 in the subtropical North Pacific Ocean

Fixed nitrogen (N) often limits the growth of organisms in terrestrial and aquatic biomes, and N availability has been important in controlling the CO2 balance of modern and ancient oceans. The fixation of atmospheric dinitrogen gas (N2) to ammonia is catalysed by nitrogenase and provides a fixed N for N-limited environments. The filamentous cyanobacterium Trichodesmium has been assumed to be the predominant oceanic N2-fixing microorganism since the discovery of N2 fixation in Trichodesmium in 1961 (ref. 6). Attention has recently focused on oceanic N2 fixation because nitrogen availability is generally limiting in many oceans, and attempts to constrain the global atmosphere-ocean fluxes of CO2 are based on basin-scale N balances. Biogeochemical studies and models have suggested that total N2-fixation rates may be substantially greater than previously believed but cannot be reconciled with observed Trichodesmium abundances. It is curious that there are so few known N2-fixing microorganisms in oligotrophic oceans when it is clearly ecologically advantageous. Here we show that there are unicellular cyanobacteria in the open ocean that are expressing nitrogenase, and are abundant enough to potentially have a significant role in N dynamics.     

Aldehyde suppression of copepod recruitment in blooms of a ubiquitous planktonic diatom

The growth cycle in nutrient-rich, aquatic environments starts with a diatom bloom that ends in mass sinking of ungrazed cells and phytodetritus. The low grazing pressure on these blooms has been attributed to the inability of overwintering copepod populations to track them temporally. We tested an alternative explanation: that dominant diatom species impair the reproductive success of their grazers. We compared larval development of a common overwintering copepod fed on a ubiquitous, early-blooming diatom species with its development when fed on a typical post-bloom dinoflagellate. Development was arrested in all larvae in which both mothers and their larvae were fed the diatom diet. Mortality remained high even if larvae were switched to the dinoflagellate diet. Aldehydes, cleaved from a fatty acid precursor by enzymes activated within seconds after crushing of the cell, elicit the teratogenic effect. This insidious mechanism, which does not deter the herbivore from feeding but impairs its recruitment, will restrain the cohort size of the next generation of early-rising overwinterers. Such a transgenerational plant-herbivore interaction could explain the recurringly inefficient use of a predictable, potentially valuable food resource--the spring diatom bloom--by marine zooplankton.     

开发海洋能源，建设海洋强国

海洋能源开发是海洋强国建设的重要支撑。论述了近年来科技创新为海洋能源勘探开发做出的巨大贡献,提出了中国海洋能源开发未来的主攻方向及建议:加大近海非常规油气开发技术攻关,为中国油气工业提供更多现实的贡献;加大深海油气勘探开发力度,打造中国油气产业未来的重要接替区;突破天然气水合物规模化开发关键技术,早日实现商业化开采;打造深海能源开发装备舰队,支撑海洋强国建设;抢占先机,布局并推进大洋矿产的勘探开发;进一步加强极地科研攻关,深度参与极地开发。     

Deep carbon export from a Southern Ocean iron-fertilized diatom bloom

Fertilization of the ocean by adding iron compounds has induced diatom-dominated phytoplankton blooms accompanied by considerable carbon dioxide drawdown in the ocean surface layer. However, because the fate of bloom biomass could not be adequately resolved in these experiments, the timescales of carbon sequestration from the atmosphere are uncertain. Here we report the results of a five-week experiment carried out in the closed core of a vertically coherent, mesoscale eddy of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, during which we tracked sinking particles from the surface to the deep-sea floor. A large diatom bloom peaked in the fourth week after fertilization. This was followed by mass mortality of several diatom species that formed rapidly sinking, mucilaginous aggregates of entangled cells and chains. Taken together, multiple lines of evidence-although each with important uncertainties-lead us to conclude that at least half the bloom biomass sank far below a depth of 1,000 metres and that a substantial portion is likely to have reached the sea floor. Thus, iron-fertilized diatom blooms may sequester carbon for timescales of centuries in ocean bottom water and for longer in the sediments.     

海洋微藻中脂质13C稳定同位素标记LC-MS

以13 C标记的小硅藻(Nitzschia closterium f.minutissima)为研究对象,运用超高效液相色谱-四级杆飞行时间质谱联用分析系统(UPLC-Q-TOF-MS)对其总脂进行分析,直接观察总脂中各类脂标记情况。研究结果表明,小硅藻中共检测出7类脂分子,分别为甜菜碱脂(DGTS)、二酰甘油单半乳糖脂(MGDG)、二酰甘油双半乳糖脂(DGDG)、二酰甘油(DAG)、三酰甘油(TAG)、二酰甘油硫代糖脂(SQDG)和磷脂酰甘油(PG)。其中DGTS、MGDG、DGDG、TAG和SQDG都可以检测到标记的结果。该方法操作方便,前处理简单,测量结果直观准确,是海洋生态系统研究和脂类代谢研究的一种新手段。     

单细胞海藻热模拟生烃与有机质成熟度的关系

通过单细胞海藻的实验室热模拟试验,对其进行了颜色变化,反射率、Ｘ－衍射、荧光等测试分析,在热演佛过程中,海藻的颜色和反射率随温度的升高而逐渐变化,颜色由浅变深,反射率值由小变大;解析Ｘ－衍射图谱,求香度ｆａ值,定量反映出海中的饱和结构与芳香结构的变化规律及其有机质成熟度;海菏的荧光光谱随温度的升高而向红光方向移动,强宵渐弱直至消失,通过这几项测试分析,探讨海藻在热演化过程中有机质演变与成烃作用的关