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Light affects picocyanobacterial grazing and growth response of the mixotrophic flagellate Poterioochromonas malhamensis

  • Microbial Ecology and Environmental Microbiology
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Abstract

We measured the grazing and growth response of the mixotrophic chrysomonad flagellate Poterioochromonas malhamensis on four closely related picocyanobacterial strains isolated from subalpine lakes in central Europe. The picocyanobacteria represented different pigment types (phycoerythrin-rich, PE, and phycocyanin-rich, PC) and phylogenetic clusters. The grazing experiments were conducted with laboratory cultures acclimated to 10 µmol photon/m2/sec (low light, LL) and 100 µmol photon/m2/sec (moderate light, ML), either in the dark or at four different irradiances ranging from low (6 µmol photon/m2/sec) to high (1,500 µmol photon/m2/sec) light intensity. Poterioochromonas malhamensis preferred the larger, green PC-rich picocyanobacteria to the smaller, red PE-rich picocyanobacterial, and heterotrophic bacteria. The feeding and growth rates of P. malhamensis were sensitive to the actual light conditions during the experiments; the flagellate performed relatively better in the dark and at LL conditions than at high light intensity. In summary, our results found strain-specific ingestion and growth rates of the flagellate; an effect of the preculturing conditions, and, unexpectedly, a direct adverse effect of high light levels. We conclude that this flagellate may avoid exposure to high surface light intensities commonly encountered in temperate lakes during the summer.

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Data Availability

The data used to support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Annette Ernst, Nicholas Crosbie, and Peter Stadler for isolating and maintaining the picocyanobacterial cultures used in this study, and Martin Hahn for providing the axenic P. malhamensis strain DS. Cristiana Callieri, CNR-ISE Pallanza, Italy, provided the facilities to measure the growth and grazing rates along a light gradient.

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  1. University of Innsbruck, Research Department for Limnology, Mondseestr. 9, A-5310, Mondsee, Austria

    Thomas Weisse & Michael Moser

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Weisse, T., Moser, M. Light affects picocyanobacterial grazing and growth response of the mixotrophic flagellate Poterioochromonas malhamensis. J Microbiol. 58, 268–278 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12275-020-9567-8

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