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. 2023 Jan 24;12:e84400. doi: 10.7554/eLife.84400

Figure 6. Benzoate hinders the dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP)-induced pathogenicity of Sulfitobacter D7 against Emiliania huxleyi.

Time course of E. huxleyi CCMP379 and bacterial abundance (smooth and dashed lines, respectively) in algal mono-cultures (a) or during co-culturing with Sulfitobacter D7 (b-c). No bacterial growth was observed in algal mono-cultures. Cultures were supplemented at day 0 with 100 µM of DMSP (yellow), benzoate (benzo, green), DMSP and benzoate (blue), or none (gray). The presence of benzoate hindered the pathogenicity-inducing effect of DMSP. Results represent average ± SD (n=3). Statistical differences were tested using repeated-measures analysis of variance, followed by a Tukey post hoc test. p-Value <0.0001 for the difference in E. huxleyi growth in the treatment of ‘+D7+DMSP’ and ‘D7 +DMSP + Benzoate’ compared to all other treatments. p-Value <0.0001 for the differences in bacterial growth in the treatments ‘+D7+benzoate’ and ‘+D7+Benzoate + DMSP’ compared to only ‘+D7’.

Figure 6—source data 1. Time course of Emiliania huxleyi CCMP379 abundance in mono-cultures supplemented with different substrates.
Figure 6—source data 2. Time course of Emiliania huxleyi CCMP379 and Sulfitobacter D7 abundance in co-cultures supplemented with different substrates.

Figure 6.

Figure 6—figure supplement 1. Benzoate is a key metabolite for maintaining Emiliania huxleyi-Sulfitobacter D7 coexistence.

Figure 6—figure supplement 1.

Time course of E. huxleyi CCMP2090 and bacterial abundance (smooth and dashed lines, respectively) in algal mono-cultures (a) or during co-culturing with Sulfitobacter D7 (b-c). No bacterial growth was observed in algal mono-cultures. Cultures were supplemented at day 0 with 100 µM of dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP; yellow), benzoate (benzo, green), DMSP and benzoate (blue), or none (gray). The presence of benzoate negated the pathogenicity-inducing effect of DMSP. Results represent average ± SD (n=3). p-value <0.0001 for the difference in E. huxleyi growth in the treatment of ‘+D7+DMSP’ compared to all other treatments. p-Value <0.05 for the differences in bacterial growth in the treatments ‘+D7+benzoate’ and ‘+D7+Benzoate + DMSP’ compared to only ‘+D7’.