ArticleEnvironmental microbiology reports2024
Phagotrophy in the nitrogen-fixing haptophyte Braarudosphaera bigelowii.
Article in Environmental microbiology reports, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
What it found
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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.
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.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed.
- Diel remodeling and cellular integration of the nitroplast.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Organic metabolite uptake by diazotrophs in the North Pacific Ocean.ISME communications · 2025Article
- Latitude- and depth-driven divergence in protist trophic strategies revealed by a machine learning model.Frontiers in microbiology · 2025Article
- Nitrogen concentration shapes the size structure and the functional diversity of phytoplankton communities in the southern Indian Ocean.ISME communications · 2025Article
- Phagotrophy in the nitrogen-fixing haptophyte Braarudosphaera bigelowii.Environmental microbiology reports · 2024Article
- Metagenomics reveals the genetic diversity between sublineages of UCYN-A and their algal host plastids.ISME communications · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Biological nitrogen fixation provides fixed nitrogen for microbes living in the oligotrophic open ocean. UCYN-A2, the previously known symbiont of Braarudosphaera bigelowii, now believed to be an early-stage B. bigelowii organelle that exchanges fixed nitrogen for fixed carbon, is globally distributed. Indirect evidence suggested that B. bigelowii might be a mixotrophic (phagotrophic) phototrophic flagellate. The goal of this study was to determine if B. bigelowii can graze on bacteria using several independent approaches. The results showed that B. bigelowii grazed on co-occurring bacteria at a rate of 5-7 cells/h/B. bigelowii and that the overall grazing rate was significantly higher at nighttime than at daytime. Bacterial abundance changes, assessed with 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing analysis, may have indicated preferential grazing by B. bigelowii on specific bacterial genotypes. In addition, Lysotracker™ staining of B. bigelowii suggested digestive activity inside B. bigelowii. Carbon and nitrogen fixation measurements revealed that the carbon demand of B. bigelowii could not be fulfilled by photosynthesis alone, implying supplementation by heterotrophy. These independent lines of evidence together revealed that B. bigelowii engages in phagotrophy, which, beyond serving as a supplementary source of carbon and energy, may also facilitate the indirect assimilation of inorganic nutrients.
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Registered trials
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.