Availability of phosphate for phytoplankton and bacteria and of labile organic carbon for bacteria at different pCO₂ levels in a mesocosm study

International audienceAvailability of phosphate for phytoplankton and bacteria and of labile organic carbon for bacteria at different pCO2 levels were studied in a mesocosm experiment (PeECE III). Using nutrient-depleted SW Norwegian fjord waters, three different levels of pCO2 (350 ?atm: 1×CO2; 750 ?atm: 2×CO2; 1050 ?atm: 3×CO2) were set up, and nitrate and phosphate were added at the start of the experiment in order to induce a phytoplankton bloom. Despite similar responses of total particulate P concentration and phosphate turnover time at the three different pCO2 levels, the size distribution of particulate P and 33PO4 uptake suggested that phosphate transferred to the >10 ?m fraction was greater in the 3×CO2 mesocosm during the first 6?10 days when phosphate concentration was high. During the period of phosphate depletion (after Day 12), specific phosphate affinity and specific alkaline phosphatase activity (APA) suggested a P-deficiency (i.e. suboptimal phosphate supply) but not a P-limitation for the phytoplankton and bacterial community at the three different pCO2 levels. Although specific phosphate affinity and specific APA tended to be higher in 3×CO2 than in 2×CO2 and 1×CO2 mesocosms during the phosphate depletion period, no statistical differences were found. Responses of specific glucose affinity for bacteria were similar at the three different pCO2 levels. Measured specific glucose affinities were consistently much lower than the theoretical maximum predicted from the diffusion-limited model, suggesting that bacterial growth was not limited by the availability of labile dissolved organic carbon. These results suggest that availability of phosphate and glucose was similar at the three different pCO2 levels

Competition for inorganic and organic forms of nitrogen and phosphorous between phytoplankton and bacteria during an <i>Emiliania huxleyi</i> spring bloom

Using ¹⁵N and ³³P, we measured the turnover of organic and inorganic nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) substrates, and the partitioning of N and P from these sources into two size fractions of marine osmotrophs during the course of a phytoplankton bloom in a nutrient manipulated mesocosm. The larger size fraction (&gt;0.8 μm), mainly consisting of the coccolithophorid <i>Emiliania huxleyi</i>, but also including an increasing amount of large particle-associated bacteria as the bloom proceeded, dominated uptake of the inorganic forms NH₄⁺, NO₃^&minus;, and PO₄^3&minus;. The uptake of N from leucine, and P from ATP and dissolved DNA, was initially dominated by the 0.8&ndash;0.2 μm size fraction, but shifted towards dominance by the &gt;0.8 μm size fraction as the system turned to an increasing degree of N-deficiency. Normalizing uptake to biomass of phytoplankton and heterotrophic bacteria revealed that organisms in the 0.8&ndash;0.2 μm size fraction had higher specific affinity for leucine-N than those in the &gt;0.8 μm size fraction when N was deficient, whereas the opposite was the case for NH₄⁺. There was no such difference regarding the specific affinity for P substrates. Since heterotrophic bacteria seem to acquire N from organic compounds like leucine more efficiently than phytoplankton, our results suggest different structuring of the microbial food chain in N-limited relative to P-limited environments

Characterization and modelling the mechanical behaviour of poly (l-lactic acid) for the manufacture of bioresorbable vascular scaffolds by stretch blow moulding

Bioresorbable Vascular Scaffolds (BVS) manufactured from poly (l-lactic acid) (PLLA) offer an alternative to metal scaffolds for the treatment of coronary heart disease. One of the key steps in the manufacture of these scaffolds is the stretch blow moulding process where the PLLA is biaxially stretched above glass transition temperature (Tg), inducing biaxial orientation and thus increasing ductility, strength and stiffness. To optimise the manufacture and performance of these scaffolds it is important to understand the influence of temperature and strain rate on the constitutive behaviour of PLLA in the blow moulding process. Experiments have been performed on samples of PLLA on a custom built biaxial stretch testing machine to replicate conditions typically experienced during blow moulding i.e. in a temperature range from 70 °C to 100 °C and at strain rates of 1 s−1, 4 s−1 and 16 s−1 respectively. The data is subsequently used to calibrate a nonlinear viscoelastic material model to represent the deformation behaviour of PLLA in the blow moulding process. The results highlight the significance of temperature and strain rate on the yielding and strain hardening behaviour of PLLA and the ability of the selected model to capture it

Competition for inorganic and organic forms of nitrogen and phosphorous between phytoplankton and bacteria during an <I>Emiliania huxleyi</I> spring bloom (PeECE II)

International audienceUsing 15N and 33P, we measured the turnover of organic and inorganic nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) substrates, and the partitioning of N and P from these sources into two size fractions of marine osmotrophs during the course of a phytoplankton bloom in a nutrient manipulated mesocosm. The larger size fraction (>0.8 ?m), mainly consisting of the coccolithophorid Emiliania huxleyi, but also including an increasing amount of large particle-associated bacteria as the bloom proceeded, dominated uptake of the inorganic forms NH4+, NO3?, and PO43?. The uptake of N from leucine, and P from ATP and dissolved DNA (dDNA), was initially dominated by the 0.8?0.2 ?m size fraction, but shifted towards dominance by the >0.8 ?m size fraction as the system turned to an increasing degree of N-deficiency. Normalizing uptake to biomass of phytoplankton and heterotrophic bacteria revealed that organisms in the 0.8?0.2 ?m size fraction had higher specific affinity for leucine-N than those in the >0.8 ?m size fraction when N was deficient, whereas the opposite was the case for NH4+. There was no such difference regarding the specific affinity for P substrates. Since heterotrophic bacteria seem to acquire N from organic compounds like leucine more efficiently than phytoplankton, our results suggest different structuring of the microbial food chain in N-limited relative to P-limited environments

Small-Scale Comparative Genomic Analysis of Listeria monocytogenes Isolated from Environments of Salmon Processing Plants and Human Cases in Norway

Listeria monocytogenes is a food-borne bacterium that give rise to the potentially life-threatening disease listeriosis. Listeriosis has been mandatorily notifiable in Norway since 1991. All clinical L. monocytogenes isolates are sent to the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) for typing. Since 2005 Multi-Locus Variable number tandem repeats Analysis (MLVA) has been used for typing but was recently replaced by whole genome sequencing using core genome Multi-Locus Sequence Typing (cgMLST). In the present study, L. monocytogenes isolates collected at salmon processing plants in Norway in 2007 (n = 12) and 2015 (n = 14) were first subject to MLVA. Twelve clinical L. monocytogenes isolates with matching MLVA profile and sampling time were selected from the strain collection at NIPH. Twenty-one isolates from the salmon processing plants and all clinical isolates (n = 12) were whole genome sequenced and compared using cgMLST and in silico detection of virulence genes. cgMLST revealed four pairs of environmental–human isolates with ≤10 allelic differences over 1708 genes, indicating that they may be assigned as clonal, with the implication that they are descended from the same recent ancestor. No relevant difference in carriage of virulence genes was found between environmental or human isolates. The present study shows that L. monocytogenes strains that genetically resemble contemporary isolates from human listeriosis circulate in Norwegian salmon slaughterhouses, and carry the same virulence genes

Availability of phosphate for phytoplankton and bacteria and of glucose for bacteria at different <i>p</i>CO₂ levels in a mesocosm study

International audienceAvailability of phosphate for phytoplankton and bacteria and of glucose for bacteria at different pCO2 levels were studied in a mesocosm experiment (PeECE III). Using nutrient-depleted SW Norwegian fjord waters, three different levels of pCO2 (350 ?atm: 1×CO2; 700 ?atm: 2×CO2; 1050 ?atm: 3×CO2) were set up, and nitrate and phosphate were added at the start of the experiment in order to induce a phytoplankton bloom. Despite similar responses of total particulate P concentration and phosphate turnover time at the three different pCO2 levels, the size distribution of particulate P and 33PO4 uptake suggested that phosphate transferred to the >10 ?m fraction was greater in the 3×CO2 mesocosm during the first 6?10 days when phosphate concentration was high. During the period of phosphate depletion (after Day 12), specific phosphate affinity and specific alkaline phosphatase activity (APA) suggested a P-deficiency (i.e. suboptimal phosphate supply) rather than a P-limitation for the phytoplankton and bacterial community at the three different pCO2 levels. Specific phosphate affinity and specific APA tended to be higher in the 3×CO2 than in the 2×CO2 and 1×CO2 mesocosms during the phosphate depletion period, although no statistical differences were found. Glucose turnover time was correlated significantly and negatively with bacterial abundance and production but not with the bulk DOC concentration. This suggests that even though constituting a small fraction of the bulk DOC, glucose was an important component of labile DOC for bacteria. Specific glucose affinity of bacteria behaved similarly at the three different pCO2 levels with measured specific glucose affinities being consistently much lower than the theoretical maximum predicted from the diffusion-limited model. This suggests that bacterial growth was not severely limited by the glucose availability. Hence, it seems that the lower availability of inorganic nutrients after the phytoplankton bloom reduced the bacterial capacity to consume labile DOC in the upper mixed layer of the stratified mesocosms

www.biogeosciences.net/5/669/2008/ © Author(s) 2008. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Availability of phosphate for phytoplankton and bacteria and of glucose for bacteria at different pCO2 levels in a mesocosm stud