Contributions of Dissolved DMSP to Bacterial Carbon and Sulfur Assimilation Fluxes: Uncertainties and New Dimensions

Dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) is an organosulfur compound produced in large amounts by marine phytoplankton. Release of algal DMSP into the extracellular dissolved pool (DMSPd) makes it available for uptake by the microbial community. DMSPd concentrations are typically only 1-3 nM, but this pool is very dynamic with 1-5 turnovers per day in oligotrophic ocean waters and 10-100 turnovers per day in productive waters. Data from many different ocean regimes suggest that DMSPd contributes 3 to 15% of bacterial carbon requirements and from 50 to >100% of bacterial sulfur requirements in the euphotic zone, making DMSPd a globally-important substrate in the C & S cycles. Recent developments in DMSPd cycling research, however, raise some uncertainties about these estimates. Quantification of DMSPd cycling fluxes requires accurate measurements of the bioavailable DMSPd concentrations but these have proven difficult to obtain because conventional measurements include non-bioavailable DMSPd, and seawater processing can artificially elevate DMSPd concentrations. The conversion factors for estimating bacterial carbon and sulfur productions are also poorly constrained in DMSPd cycling studies leading to additional uncertainties. Typical low bacterial growth efficiencies used in calculating bacterial carbon demands may not apply to DMSP since DMSP-carbon use efficiency is high (50-60%) even in oligotrophic waters. Most of the estimates of DMSPd contributions to bacterial C and S fluxes have assumed that only heterotrophic bacteria participate in DMSP uptake and assimilation. We now know that prokaryotic and eukaryotic phytoplankton participate in DMSP uptake and sulfur assimilation and that light stimulates these activities, further complicating assessments of DMSPd contributions to heterotrophic metabolisms. DMSP-sulfur assimilation by diverse microbial players may help to explain why estimates of DMSPd contribution to bacterial sulfur production often exceed 100%.