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JPR Advance Access published online on January 19, 2007
Journal of Plankton Research, doi:10.1093/plankt/fbm009
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© 2007 The Author(s)
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/uk/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Horizons

Vitamins, Phytoplankton and Bacteria: Symbiosis or Scavenging?

M.R. Droop

Scottish Association for Marine Science, Dunstaffnage Marine Research Laboratory, Oban, Argyll, PA37 1QA, Scotland

e-mail: m.droop{at}ukonline.co.uk

Received on July 19, 2006; revised on November 21, 2006; accepted on December 14, 2006


  Abstract

The conclusion that over 25% of global primary production depends on direct algal/bacterial symbiosis involving vitamin B12 (Croft et al., "Algae acquire vitamin B12 through a symbiotic relationship with bacteria". Nature, 2005, Vol. 438/3, 90-93) is patently false, for it is based on a misconception of the probable level of the vitamin B12 requirement in marine pelagic algae. A review of the various published attempts at measuring this requiement suggests that it is likely to be so low that oceanic and coastal concentrations of the vitamin would usually be sufficient to sustain the populations that occur without the assistance of direct algal/bacterial symbiosis. The levels measured are discussed in relation to method (batch or continuous culture) and protocols used. Requirement values considered by the author to be acceptable range from 0.1 to 0.3 pM for the vitamin growth saturation constant (KS) and from 30 to 100 µL algal biomass pmol–1 vitamin for the yield.

Key Words: marine • phytoplankton • B12-requirement • symbiosis

Communicating editor: KJ Flynn

Written responses to this article should be submitted to Kevin Flynn at k.j.flynn{at}swansea.ac.uk within two months of publication. For further information, please see the Editorial ‘Horizons’ in Journal of Plankton Research, Volume 26, Number 3, Page 257.


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