Rapid bacterial degradation of polysaccharides in anoxic marine systems

Abstract

Extracellular hydrolysis of organic macromolecules is often assumed to be the slow step in remineralization of organic matter. We tested this assumption by comparing the degradation of four polysaccharides (pullulan, laminarin, and two polysaccharides isolated from the marine cyanobacterium Synechococcus WH7335) to determine whether size, linkage position, or anomeric linkage affected rates or mechanisms of carbohydrate degradation by mixed cultures of anaerobic bacteria enriched from marine sediments. Gel permeation chromatography and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) were used to follow the extracellular conversion of high molecular weight polysaccharides to lower molecular weight polysaccharides and oligosaccharides which were subsequently remineralized. In all cases, substrate degradation was rapid. NMR spectra showed that preferential hydrolysis occurred at specific chemical linkages, and extracellular enzymatic hydrolysis of polysaccharides occurred far more rapidly than bacterial uptake and remineralization of the lower molecular weight oligosaccharides produced through enzymatic hydrolysis. Substrate size was not a significant determinant of remineralization rate: high molecular weight does not always correlate with slow degradation rate. The hypothesis that extracellular enzymatic hydrolysis is a slow step in the degradation of macromolecular organic matter in marine systems needs to be critically re-examined.