Production of Iron-Complexing Compounds by Marine Particle-Associated Bacteria

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9633408 Haygood Iron availability is believed to have an important influence on the productivity of marine environments. The chemistry of iron in the ocean is still poorly understood, but there is an emerging consensus that iron is largely complexed by organic compounds in seawater, thus affecting the chemical behavior of iron, as well as its availability to organisms. Many bacteria, including some marine species, are known to produce siderophores, compounds which bind iron. Such siderophores may contribute to iron complexation in seawater. The investigators will study siderophore production by marine bacteria associated with particles. This study seeks to determine whether siderophores participate in iron complexation in seawater, and what environmental conditions control their production. Siderophore production by selected marine bacteria will be studied in the laboratory using biochemical, molecular, and immunological techniques. Knowledge of the factors regulating siderophore production will be useful in predicting their occurrence in the marine environment and will lead to a better understanding of iron and its influence on productivity and community structure in the ocean. This information will be immediately useful in chemical modeling of the behavior of iron in seawater. These studies will provide a key link between studies of the organic iron ligands in seawater, and the role of bacteria in influencing the availability of iron to phytoplankton and bacteria in the ocean.