carbon
- Research Article | Ecological and Evolutionary ScienceMechanistic Model for the Coexistence of Nitrogen Fixation and Photosynthesis in Marine Trichodesmium
Trichodesmium is a major nitrogen-fixing cyanobacterium and exerts a significant influence on the oceanic nitrogen cycle. It is also a widely used model organism in laboratory studies. Since the nitrogen-fixing enzyme nitrogenase is extremely sensitive to oxygen, how these surface-dwelling plankton manage the two conflicting processes of nitrogen fixation and photosynthesis has been a long-standing question. In this study, we...
- Research Article | Molecular Biology and PhysiologyCarbon Fate and Flux in Prochlorococcus under Nitrogen Limitation
Photosynthetic microbes are the predominant sources of organic carbon in the sunlit regions of the ocean. During photosynthesis, nitrogen and carbon metabolism are coordinated to synthesize nitrogen-containing organics such as amino acids and nucleic acids. In large regions of the ocean, nitrogen is thought to limit the growth of phytoplankton. The impact of nitrogen limitation on the synthesis of organic carbon is not well understood,...