Seminar: Dr. Ryan Paerl, NCSU Department of Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences

UNC Marine Sciences’ is proud to host a seminar by Ryan Paerl, Ph.D.

Presenter Affiliation: North Carolina State University, Department of Marine, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences

Title: Back to the Future: Revisiting vitamin B1 auxotrophy and growth limitation in marine plankton

Abstract: Vitamin B1, also called thiamine, is a micronutrient needed by virtually all cells.  Roughly half a century ago aquatic/marine microbiologists began investigating the vitamin B1 related ecology of bacterioplankton and phytoplankton and first recognized that select strains are B1 auxotrophs, organisms unable to make the vital vitamin from scratch (de novo).  Recent work identified representatives of key plankton lineages, e.g. abundant marine bacterioplankton, small phytoplankton, and harmful algal bloom associated dinoflagellates, as B1 auxotrophs – reinvigorating interest in the vitamin.  In my talk, I will describe results from experiments that clarify vitamin B1 utilization (useful substrates, kinetics, bacterial interactions) by marine picoeukaryotic algae – significant contributors to primary productivity regions of the ocean, and also newer work examining bacterial B1 auxotrophy and growth limitation.  Together the results argue that bioavailability of B1 and fragments of the vitamin deserve greater investigation in future marine/aquatic research, especially work examining microbial interactions but also limitation of plankton growth and metabolism.