Evidence map›Paper›PMID 28650444›Full record

ArticleNature microbiology2017

Nutrient recycling facilitates long-term stability of marine microbial phototroph-heterotroph interactions.

Joseph A Christie-Oleza, Despoina Sousoni, Matthew Lloyd, Jean Armengaud, David J Scanlan

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nature microbiology, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 108 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
108citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

108 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Review
  3. Vesicle-associated exudates fromApplied and environmental microbiology · 2026
    Article
  4. Article
  5. Review
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
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  11. Methionine synthesis and glycine betaine demethylation are intricately intertwined in cosmopolitan marine bacteria.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
    Article
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Review
  16. Review
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Review

48 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Joseph A Christie-OlezaSchool of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0992-2226
Despoina SousoniSchool of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK.
Matthew LloydSchool of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK.
Jean ArmengaudCEA, DRF/Joliot/DMTS/SPI/Li2D, Laboratory 'Technological Innovations for Detection and Diagnostic', Bagnols-sur-Cèze F-30207, France.
David J ScanlanSchool of Life Sciences, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, UK.

Funding

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council BB/M017982/1
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Biological interactions underpin the functioning of marine ecosystems, be it via competition, predation, mutualism or symbiosis processes. Microbial phototroph-heterotroph interactions propel the engine that results in the biogeochemical cycling of individual elements, and they are critical for understanding and modelling global ocean processes. Unfortunately, studies thus far have focused on exponentially growing cultures in nutrient-rich media, meaning knowledge of such interactions under in situ conditions is rudimentary at best. Here, we have performed long-term phototroph-heterotroph co-culture experiments under nutrient-amended and natural seawater conditions, and show that it is not the concentration of nutrients but rather their circulation that maintains a stable interaction and a dynamic system. Using the Synechococcus-Roseobacter interaction as a model phototroph-heterotroph case study, we show that although Synechococcus is highly specialized for carrying out photosynthesis and carbon fixation, it relies on the heterotroph to remineralize the inevitably leaked organic matter, making nutrients circulate in a mutualistic system. In this sense we challenge the general belief that marine phototrophs and heterotrophs compete for the same scarce nutrients and niche space, and instead suggest that these organisms more probably benefit from each other because of their different levels of specialization and complementarity within long-term stable-state systems.

Indexed as

Carbon CycleHeterotrophic ProcessesMicrobial InteractionsPhototrophic ProcessesCulture MediaEcosystemMicrobiological TechniquesPhotosynthesisRoseobacterSeawaterSymbiosisSynechococcusCulture Media

Identifiers

PMID28650444
PMCPMC5495174

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.