Influence of nutrient availability on Arctic sea ice diatom HBI lipid synthesis

•Two species of HBI-synthesising sea ice diatoms were cultured.•Nutrient depletion drives order of magnitude increase in HBI synthesis in one species.•Results may change how HBI abundance should be interpreted in the environment. Diatom highly branched isoprenoid (HBI) lipids have proven extremely u...

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Published inOrganic geochemistry Vol. 141; p. 103977
Main Authors Brown, T.A., Rad-Menéndez, C., Ray, J.L., Skaar, K.S., Thomas, N., Ruiz-Gonzalez, C., Leu, E.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Elsevier Ltd 01.03.2020
Subjects
Haslea crucigeroides
Haslea vitrea
Highly branched isoprenoid (HBI) lipids
Sea ice-diatoms
Highly branched isoprenoid (HBI) lipids
Sea ice-diatoms
Haslea vitrea
Haslea crucigeroides
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Summary:•Two species of HBI-synthesising sea ice diatoms were cultured.•Nutrient depletion drives order of magnitude increase in HBI synthesis in one species.•Results may change how HBI abundance should be interpreted in the environment. Diatom highly branched isoprenoid (HBI) lipids have proven extremely useful as environmental proxies. This study is the first to target the influence of nutrient limitation on HBI synthesis and to present data on the variable biosynthesis of HBIs in sea ice diatoms. In doing so, we show that the cellular abundance of HBIs can vary, by orders of magnitude, within the sea ice habitat; a topic not yet addressed in the literature, which could have far-reaching consequences on how variable HBI concentrations are interpreted in the wider environment.
ISSN:0146-6380
1873-5290
DOI:10.1016/j.orggeochem.2020.103977