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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, February 2001, p. 814-820, Vol. 67, No. 2
0099-2240/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/AEM.67.2.814-820.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Effects of Hydrophobic and Electrostatic Cell Surface Properties of Bacteria on Feeding Rates of Heterotrophic Nanoflagellates

Carsten Matz* and Klaus Jürgens

Department of Physiological Ecology, Max Planck Institute for Limnology, D-24302 Plön, Germany

Received 4 August 2000/Accepted 7 November 2000

The influence of cell surface hydrophobicity and electrostatic charge of bacteria on grazing rates of three common species of interception-feeding nanoflagellates was examined. The hydrophobicity of bacteria isolated from freshwater plankton was assessed by using two different methods (bacterial adhesion to hydrocarbon and hydrophobic interaction chromatography). The electrostatic charge of the cell surface (measured as zeta potential) was analyzed by microelectrophoresis. Bacterial ingestion rates were determined by enumerating bacteria in food vacuoles by immunofluorescence labelling via strain-specific antibodies. Feeding rates varied about twofold for each flagellate species but showed no significant dependence on prey hydrophobicity or surface charge. Further evidence was provided by an experiment involving flagellate grazing on complex bacterial communities in a two-stage continuous culture system. The hydrophobicity values of bacteria that survived protozoan grazing were variable, but the bacteria did not tend to become more hydrophilic. We concluded that variability in bacterial cell hydrophobicity and variability in surface charge do not severely affect uptake rates of suspended bacteria or food selection by interception-feeding flagellates.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Physiological Ecology, Max Planck Institute for Limnology, P.O. Box 165, D-24302 Plön, Germany. Phone: 49-4522-763213. Fax: 49-4522-763310. E-mail: matz{at}mpil-ploen.mpg.de.

Applied and Environmental Microbiology, February 2001, p. 814-820, Vol. 67, No. 2
0099-2240/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/AEM.67.2.814-820.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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