Oxygen-Poor Microzones as Potential Sites of Microbial N2 Fixation in Nitrogen-Depleted Aerobic Marine Waters

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The nitrogen-deficient coastal waters of North Carolina contain suspended bacteria potentially able to fix N2. Bioassays aimed at identifying environmental factors controlling the development and proliferation of N2 fixation showed that dissolved organic carbon (as simple sugars and sugar alcohols) and particulate organic carbon (derived from Spartina alterniflora) additions elicited and enhanced N2 fixation (nitrogenase activity) in these waters. Nitrogenase activity occurred in samples containing flocculent, mucilage-covered bacterial aggregates. Cyanobacterium-bacterium aggregates also revealed N2 fixation. In all cases bacterial N2 fixation occurred in association with surficial microenvironments or microzones. Since nitrogenase is oxygen labile, we hypothesized that the aggregates themselves protected their constituent microbes from O2. Microelectrode O2 profiles revealed that aggregates had lower internal O2 tensions than surrounding waters. Tetrazolium salt (2,3,5-triphenyl-3-tetrazolium chloride) reduction revealed that patchy zones existed both within microbes and extracellularly in the mucilage surrounding microbes where free O2 was excluded. Triphenyltetrazolium chloride reduction also strongly inhibited nitrogenase activity. These findings suggest that N2 fixation is mediated by the availability of the appropriate types of reduced microzones. Organic carbon enrichment appears to serve as an energy and structural source for aggregate formation, both of which were required for eliciting N2 fixation responses of these waters.

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