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Applied and Environmental Microbiology
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General Microbial Ecology

Uptake of Choline and Its Conversion to Glycine Betaine by Bacteria in Estuarine Waters

Ronald P. Kiene
Ronald P. Kiene
Department of Marine Sciences, University of South Alabama, Mobile, Alabama 36688, and Dauphin Island Sea Lab, Dauphin Island, Alabama 36528
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ABSTRACT

The uptake and degradation of nanomolar levels of [methyl-14C]choline in estuarine water samples and in seawater filtrate cultures composed mainly of natural free-living bacteria was studied. Uptake of [14C]choline exhibited Michaelis-Menten kinetics, withKt + Sn values of 1.7 to 2.9 nM in filtrate cultures and 1.7 to 4.1 nM in estuarine-water samples. V max values ranged from 0.5 to 3.3 nM · h−1. The uptake system for choline in natural microbial assemblages therefore displays very high affinity and appears able to scavenge this compound at the concentrations expected in seawater. Uptake of choline was inhibited by some natural structural analogs and p-chloromercuribenzoate, indicating that the transporter may be multifunctional and may involve a thiol binding site. When 11 nM [14C]choline was added to water samples, a significant fraction (>50%) of the methyl carbon was respired to CO2 in incubations lasting 10 to 53 h. Cells taking up [14C]choline produced [14C]glycine betaine ([14C]GBT), and up to 80% of the radioactivity retained by cells was in the form of GBT, a well-known osmolyte. Alteration of the salinity in filtrate cultures affected the relative proportion of [14C]choline degraded or converted to [14C]GBT, without substantially affecting the total metabolism of choline. Increasing the salinity from 14 to 25 or 35 ppt caused more [14C]GBT to be produced from choline but less 14CO2 to be produced than in the controls. Lowering the salinity to 7 ppt decreased [14C]GBT production and increased14CO2 production slightly. Intracellular accumulations of [14C]GBT in the salt-stressed cultures were osmotically significant (34 mM). Choline may be used as an energy substrate by estuarine bacteria and may also serve as a precursor of the osmoprotectant GBT, particularly as bacteria are mixed into higher-salinity waters.

  • Copyright © 1998 American Society for Microbiology
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Uptake of Choline and Its Conversion to Glycine Betaine by Bacteria in Estuarine Waters
Ronald P. Kiene
Applied and Environmental Microbiology Mar 1998, 64 (3) 1045-1051; DOI:

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Uptake of Choline and Its Conversion to Glycine Betaine by Bacteria in Estuarine Waters
Ronald P. Kiene
Applied and Environmental Microbiology Mar 1998, 64 (3) 1045-1051; DOI:
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