Okyanusun yalnız gezen mikrobu yapışkan topluluklarda da yaşayabiliyor

Prochlorococcus, the smallest and most plentiful photosynthetic organism in the oceans, has long been pictured as a solitary cell drifting through sunlit surface waters. Because it lives briefly near the surface, scientists assumed it did little to move carbon into the deep sea. A study from Sallie Chisholm’s lab at MIT, published in Nature Communications, now shows that every strain the team tested can also form biofilms, sticky communities attached to surfaces. Repeatedly transferring only the attached cells raised their share from about 6 percent to roughly 85 percent, yet sequencing revealed no mutation behind the change; genetically identical cells can switch between the two lifestyles. Attached cells grew more slowly and produced more chlorophyll, but released nearly twice as much organic carbon. Seawater DNA contained particle-attached Prochlorococcus in every sample, and if such cells cling to sinking particles, the team’s rough first estimate is that they could transport around 500 million metric tons of carbon to deeper water annually.