Tritiated thymidine incorporation and the growth of heterotrophic bacteria in warm core rings

Journal Article · Fri Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 1985 · Limnol. Oceanogr.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.4319/lo.1985.30.2.0260· OSTI ID:5609754

Ducklow, H W; Hill, S M

The time-course of the incorporation rate of (methyl-/sup 3/H)thymidine ((/sup 3/H)TdR) was established during 6-12 h incubations of natural bacterial populations sampled from the surface layers of warm core Gulf Stream rings. Parallel estimates of changes in cell numbers were made in order to examine the relationships between TdR incorporation and population growth for oceanic bacterial populations. Their results indicate that a conversion factor of 4 x 10/sup 18/ cells produced per mole of (/sup 3/H)TdR incorporated yielded estimates of bacterial production which were within a factor of 2 or 3 of production estimates derived from changes in cell numbers in seawater cultures. The authors observed a significant, direct relationship between the initial rates of TdR incorporation per cell and specific growth rates and conclude that initial short term (15-45 min) assays of TdR incorporation are a valuable tool for studying bacterial production in oceanic waters. In most incubations, the rate of TdR incorporation increased more rapidly than did cell numbers. Very large conversion factor values were derived from these data. The discrepancy between growth determined from TdR incorporation rates and total bacterial numbers in seawater cultures has not been observed in previous studies of coastal, estuarine, or lacustrine bacteria, but was a consistent feature of our studies on oceanic populations.

• Research Organization: Horn Point Environmental Labs., Cambridge, MD
• OSTI ID: 5609754
• Journal Information: Limnol. Oceanogr.; (United States), Vol. 30:2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
BACTERIA
POPULATION DYNAMICS
THYMIDINE
UPTAKE
TRITIUM COMPOUNDS
COASTAL WATERS
GULF STREAM
SEAWATER
AZINES
CURRENTS
HETEROCYCLIC COMPOUNDS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
LABELLED COMPOUNDS
MICROORGANISMS
NUCLEOSIDES
NUCLEOTIDES
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PYRIMIDINES
RIBOSIDES
SURFACE WATERS
WATER
WATER CURRENTS
550701* - Microbiology- Tracer Techniques