Bacteriohopanepolyols across the Black Sea redoxcline trace diverse bacterial metabolisms

Abstract

Redox gradients in oceanic oxygen minimum zones are hotspots of diverse bacterial populations and metabolisms. Here, we test whether bacteriohopanepolyols (BHPs), a suite of membrane-regulating pentacyclic triterpenoid lipids, are suitable tracers of major bacterial metabolisms and whether their structural diversity (BHP lipidomics) allows tracing the bacterial ecology across the Black Sea chemocline. We analyzed suspended particulate matter (SPM) sampled along depth-profiles across the redox/chemocline at two sites in the eastern and western gyres and underlying core-top sediments at the western gyre site. Our results show that BHPs abundances reflect the stratification of the Black Sea and capture ecological niches across the chemocline, being highest in the lower suboxic zone and in upper to deep sulfidic waters. BHP-inferred bacterial metabolisms in the lower suboxic zone are dominated by anammox and aerobic methane oxidizers (primarily by Type I/gammaproteobacteria). Bacterial biomass production in the upper to deep sulfidic zone is mirrored by a range of BHPs that are normally associated with aerobic metabolisms, most likely explained by either survival in oxygenated micro-niches or production by anaerobic bacteria (which could possibly include sulfate reducers and nitrite-dependent methane oxidizers). Most surprisingly, this ecological niche harbors seemingly unknown anaerobic bacteria which produce abundant C-2 and C-3 methylated BHPs. Core-top sediments reflect the BHP structural diversity found in SPM, but with notable compositional differences. Most strikingly, the export dynamics seem to result in near-absence of C-2 methylated BHPs in surface sediments. Sedimentary BHP distributions therefore underestimate the importance of C-2 methylated BHPs in the water column, which has implications for the geological record.