Fossilized glycolipids reveal past oceanic N2 fixation by heterocystous cyanobacteria
Edited by John M. Hayes, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Berkeley, CA, and approved September 7, 2010 (received for review May 31, 2010)
Abstract
N2-fixing cyanobacteria play an essential role in sustaining primary productivity in contemporary oceans and freshwater systems. However, the significance of N2-fixing cyanobacteria in past nitrogen cycling is difficult to establish as their preservation potential is relatively poor and specific biological markers are presently lacking. Heterocystous N2-fixing cyanobacteria synthesize unique long-chain glycolipids in the cell envelope covering the heterocyst cell to protect the oxygen-sensitive nitrogenase enzyme. We found that these heterocyst glycolipids are remarkably well preserved in (ancient) lacustrine and marine sediments, unambiguously indicating the (past) presence of N2-fixing heterocystous cyanobacteria. Analysis of Pleistocene sediments of the eastern Mediterranean Sea showed that heterocystous cyanobacteria, likely as epiphytes in symbiosis with planktonic diatoms, were particularly abundant during deposition of sapropels. Eocene Arctic Ocean sediments deposited at a time of large Azolla blooms contained glycolipids typical for heterocystous cyanobacteria presently living in symbiosis with the freshwater fern Azolla, indicating that this symbiosis already existed in that time. Our study thus suggests that heterocystous cyanobacteria played a major role in adding “new” fixed nitrogen to surface waters in past stratified oceans.
Acknowledgments.
We thank three anonymous reviewers and the Editor for comments which improved this manuscript. H. Vogel, B. Wagner, M. Melles, P. De Deckker, C. Slomp, H. Mort, J. Werne, Y. van Breugel, J. Weijers, D. Verschuren, G. de Lange, and L. Schwark are acknowledged for supplying a number of the studied sediments; L. Stal and J. Campaore for providing cyanobacterial cultures, and M. van Kempen for providing cultured Azolla. Sediments were recovered from Lake Challa as part of the CHALLACEA project. Sediments from the Eocene Arctic were provided by the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP). Financial support for this research was provided by the Darwin Center for Biogeosciences, the Royal NIOZ, and the University of Utrecht awarded (to J.S.S.D. and G.J.R.). G.J.R. acknowledges the Statoil Company for additional financial support.
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Cover image: Pictured are vent pipes releasing carbon dioxide into a stand of sweetgum trees in a deciduous plantation forest in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Forests serve as terrestrial carbon sinks by sequestering atmospheric carbon dioxide, helping offset anthropogenic emission. Based on analysis of 11 years of data from a carbon dioxide enrichment experiment in the forest, Richard J. Norby et al. find that declining nitrogen availability, a consequence of stand development, can limit forest biomass productivity fueled by enriched carbon dioxide. The findings suggest a need to factor nitrogen availability into global models of climate change. See the article by Norby et al. on pages 19368–19373. Image courtesy of Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
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Published online: October 21, 2010
Published in issue: November 9, 2010
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Acknowledgments
We thank three anonymous reviewers and the Editor for comments which improved this manuscript. H. Vogel, B. Wagner, M. Melles, P. De Deckker, C. Slomp, H. Mort, J. Werne, Y. van Breugel, J. Weijers, D. Verschuren, G. de Lange, and L. Schwark are acknowledged for supplying a number of the studied sediments; L. Stal and J. Campaore for providing cyanobacterial cultures, and M. van Kempen for providing cultured Azolla. Sediments were recovered from Lake Challa as part of the CHALLACEA project. Sediments from the Eocene Arctic were provided by the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP). Financial support for this research was provided by the Darwin Center for Biogeosciences, the Royal NIOZ, and the University of Utrecht awarded (to J.S.S.D. and G.J.R.). G.J.R. acknowledges the Statoil Company for additional financial support.
Notes
This article is a PNAS Direct Submission.
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The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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