Ecology: Surprisingly sweet seagrass

 
A paper revealing that sucrose (sucrose) at a concentration about 80 times higher than that of conventional ocean records is accumulated at the base of seagrass beds.Nature Ecology & Evolution Will be published in.This finding indicates that seagrass may be a major reservoir of organic carbon in the world, which is presumed to be due to the suppression of microbial activity that degrades sucrose. ..

Seagrass beds are important habitats for marine life and are believed to not only provide hideouts and food for diverse marine life, but also store carbon in tissues 35 times faster than terrestrial rainforests of the same area. Has been done.Seagrass can also emit carbon from its roots in the form of simple sugars and other compounds.However, the role of marine microorganisms in the consumption and circulation of such carbon sources is not well understood.

This time, Maggie Sogin et al. Targeted three algae fields (Posidonia oceanica, a Mediterranean seagrass, and another seagrass in the Caribbean and Baltic Seas) in the seafloor deposits (both interstitial water). The chemical composition of the sample (called) was analyzed.As a result, unexpectedly high concentrations of sucrose were detected near the roots of seagrass, and it was estimated that 3 to 30 teragrams of sucrose were stored in the upper 0.67 cm of seagrass deposits throughout the globe.Analysis of the genomes of the microorganisms that inhabit the deposits at the base of the seagrass field shows that 1.34% of the restored microbial genomes have sculolytic genes, but the expression of these genes is 80% of the genome. It became clear that it would stay. Sogin et al. Speculate that the accumulation of sucrose may be explained by the presence of a plant compound called a phenolic substance (which strongly suppresses the activity of microorganisms), along with low oxygen conditions.

Sogin et al. Conclude that the accumulation of sucrose at the root of seaweed is considered a valuable reserve of organic carbon and may be found in other marine and freshwater plants.

doi: 10.1038 / s41559-022-01740-z
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Reprinted from: "Ecology: Surprisingly sugary seagrass'
 

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