Production of Two Highly Abundant 2-Methyl-Branched Fatty Acids by Blooms of the Globally Significant Marine Cyanobacteria Trichodesmium erythraeum

Kelsey M Gosselin; Robert K Nelson; Amanda C Spivak; Sean P Sylva; Benjamin A S Van Mooy; Christoph Aeppli; Charles M Sharpless; Gregory W O'Neil; Eleanor C Arrington; Christopher M Reddy; David L Valentine

doi:10.1021/acsomega.1c03196

Production of Two Highly Abundant 2-Methyl-Branched Fatty Acids by Blooms of the Globally Significant Marine Cyanobacteria Trichodesmium erythraeum

ACS Omega. 2021 Aug 26;6(35):22803-22810. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.1c03196. eCollection 2021 Sep 7.

Affiliations

¹ Interdepartmental Graduate Program in Marine Science, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, United States.
² Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543, United States.
³ Department of Marine Sciences, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602, United States.
⁴ Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, East Boothbay, Maine 04544, United States.
⁵ Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, United States.
⁶ Department of Chemistry, Western Washington University, Bellingham, Washington 98225, United States.
⁷ Department of Earth Science and Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, United States.

Abstract

The bloom-forming cyanobacteria Trichodesmium contribute up to 30% to the total fixed nitrogen in the global oceans and thereby drive substantial productivity. On an expedition in the Gulf of Mexico, we observed and sampled surface slicks, some of which included dense blooms of Trichodesmium erythraeum. These bloom samples contained abundant and atypical free fatty acids, identified here as 2-methyldecanoic acid and 2-methyldodecanoic acid. The high abundance and unusual branching pattern of these compounds suggest that they may play a specific role in this globally important organism.