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Temporal Patterns in Glycolate-Utilizing Bacterial Community Composition Correlate with Phytoplankton Population Dynamics in Humic Lakes

  • Microbiology of Aquatic Systems
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Abstract

Previous observations of correlated community dynamics between phytoplankton and bacteria in lakes indicate that phytoplankton populations may influence bacterial community structure. To investigate the possibility that bacterial use of phytoplankton exudates contributes to observed patterns of community change, we characterized the diversity and dynamics of heterotrophic bacterioplankton with genetic potential to use glycolate, a photorespiration-specific exudate, in five lakes over a 15-week period. Culture-independent approaches were used to track different bacterial phylotypes represented by DNA sequence variation in the functional gene glycolate oxidase subunit D (glcD). glcD gene sequences from freshwater bacteria exhibited broad phylogenetic diversity, including sequences representing the Alpha-, Beta-, and Gammaproteobacteria, Actinobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, and Verrucomicrobia. The majority of glcD gene sequences were betaproteobacterial, with 48% of the sequences clustering with the glcD gene from the cosmopolitan freshwater species Polynucleobacter necessarius. Terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism fingerprinting of the glcD gene revealed changes in glycolate-utilizing assemblages over time. An average of 39% of within-lake temporal variation in glycolate-utilizing assemblages across five lakes was explained by phytoplankton community composition and dynamics. The interaction between phytoplankton populations and the environment explained an additional 17% of variation on average. These observations offer new insight into the diversity and temporal dynamics of freshwater bacteria with genetic potential to use glycolate and support the hypothesis that algal exudates influence the structure of bacterial communities.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Y. Chang for assistance with molecular analyses; A. Yannarell, S. Jones, and A. Shade for assistance with sequence and statistical analysis programs; and C. Cáceres, D. Keymer, M. Lemke, K. McMahon, A. Peralta, A. Shade, R. Whitaker, A. Yannarell, and anonymous reviewers for thoughtful comments on this manuscript. Funding for this work was provided by NSF grant MCB 0702653 and an O’Dell Fellowship from the University of Illinois to S.F.P.

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  1. Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, Program in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana—Champaign, 1102 S. Goodwin Ave, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA

    Sara F. Paver & Angela D. Kent

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  1. Sara F. Paver
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  2. Angela D. Kent
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Correspondence to Angela D. Kent.

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Paver, S.F., Kent, A.D. Temporal Patterns in Glycolate-Utilizing Bacterial Community Composition Correlate with Phytoplankton Population Dynamics in Humic Lakes. Microb Ecol 60, 406–418 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-010-9722-6

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