Relationships between microbial extracellular enzymatic activity and suspended and sinking particulate organic matter: seasonal transformations in the North Water

Abstract

Abstract Despite the importance of hydrolytic activities by bacterial extracellular enzymes (EE) in the temperate ocean, little is known about the role of extracellular enzymatic activity (EEA) in determining the fate of particulate organic matter (POM) in polar seas. To explore the issue further, we measured various chemical and bacterial parameters in the near-0°C waters of the North Water during the months of May and July of 1998. Seawater (SW) samples were collected by Niskin bottle at the depth of the chlorophyll fluorescence maximum (8–90 m), while samples of sinking particles and aggregates were collected in short-term (0.5–1.2 d), unpoisoned, floating sediment traps deployed at depths typically below the mixed layer (50–136 m). Samples were analyzed for POC, PON, and abundance of total and actively respiring bacteria. They were also incubated with fluorescently tagged substrate analogs to measure potential maximal rates of three classes of EE (leucine-aminopeptidase, chitobiase, and β -glucosidase) at –1°C. The percentage of actively respiring bacteria was always higher in sediment trap samples than in SW (medians of 38% and 24% versus 10% and 12% in May and July, respectively). Cell-specific rates of EEA were also higher in the trap samples and, for both sample types, similar to published rates from temperate waters. Rates of EEA when scaled to the abundance of actively respiring bacteria, however, did not differ between sample types, suggesting that the elevated EEA associated with sinking material is due to the greater abundance of metabolically active cells supported by such material and not due to enhanced enzyme expression in general, as suggested by previous studies. In this study, leucine-aminopeptidase activity was always much higher than the other classes of EEA, becoming even more dominant later in the season; it always correlated positively with the abundance of both total and actively respiring bacteria. Enzyme ratios indicating protease dominance corresponded with the seasonal increases in C/N ratios of both suspended and sinking POM. Overall the results suggest bacterial responses to seasonal changes in POM quality through differential expression of EE and an important role for proteases in influencing the nitrogen content of organic matter even at near-0° temperatures in this polynya.