Physiology, fast and slow: bacterial response to variable resource stoichiometry and dilution rate.

Unlabelled: Microorganisms grow despite imbalances in the availability of nutrients and energy. The biochemical and elemental adjustments that bacteria employ to sustain growth when these resources are suboptimal are not well understood. We assessed how KT2440 adjusts its physiology at differing dilution rates (to approximate growth rates) in response to carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) stress using chemostats.

Elemental and macromolecular plasticity of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (Chlorophyta) in response to resource limitation and growth rate.

With the ongoing differential disruption of the biogeochemical cycles of major elements that are essential for all life (carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus), organisms are increasingly faced with a heterogenous supply of these elements in nature. Given that photosynthetic primary producers form the base of aquatic food webs, impacts of changed elemental supply on these organisms are particularly important. One way that phytoplankton cope with the differential availability of nutrients is through physiological changes, resulting in plasticity in macromolecular and elemental biomass composition.