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Single-cell determination of iron content in magnetotactic bacteria: implications for the iron biogeochemical cycle

Matthieu Amor, Mickaël Tharaud, Alexandre Gélabert, View ORCID ProfileArash Komeili
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/541953
Matthieu Amor
1 University of California, Berkeley;
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  • For correspondence: amor@ipgp.fr
Mickaël Tharaud
2 Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris
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Alexandre Gélabert
2 Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris
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Arash Komeili
1 University of California, Berkeley;
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  • ORCID record for Arash Komeili
  • For correspondence: komeili@berkeley.edu
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Abstract

Magnetotactic bacteria (MTB) are ubiquitous aquatic microorganisms that biomineralize dissolved iron from the environment into intracellular nanoparticles of magnetite [Fe(II)Fe(III)2O4] or greigite [Fe(II)Fe(III)2S4] in a genetically controlled manner. After cell death, these magnetite and greigite crystals are trapped into sediments which effectively removes iron from the soluble pool. MTB may significantly impact the iron biogeochemical cycle, especially in the ocean where dissolved iron limits nitrogen fixation and primary productivity. Although MTB are ubiquitous in the environment, their impact on the biogeochemical cycling of metallic elements is still poorly constrained. A thorough assessment of the mass of iron incorporated by MTB has been hampered by a lack of methodology to accurately measure the amount of, and variability in, their intracellular iron content. Here, we quantify the mass of iron contained in single MTB cells of the model organism, Magnetospirillum magneticum sp. AMB-1, using a time-resolved mass spectrometry methodology. Bacterial iron content depends on the external iron concentration, and reaches a maximum value of 10-6 ng of iron per cell when bacteria are cultivated with initial iron concentrations of 100 μM or higher. From our experimental results, we calculated the flux of dissolved iron incorporation into natural MTB populations and conclude that MTB may mineralize a significant fraction of environmental dissolved iron into crystals.

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Posted February 05, 2019.
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Single-cell determination of iron content in magnetotactic bacteria: implications for the iron biogeochemical cycle
Matthieu Amor, Mickaël Tharaud, Alexandre Gélabert, Arash Komeili
bioRxiv 541953; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/541953
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Single-cell determination of iron content in magnetotactic bacteria: implications for the iron biogeochemical cycle
Matthieu Amor, Mickaël Tharaud, Alexandre Gélabert, Arash Komeili
bioRxiv 541953; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/541953

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