Publications by authors named "Ruanhong Cai"

Estuaries significantly affect the transport of dissolved organic matter (DOM) from land to ocean. While the transport and composition of estuarine DOM have been extensively studied, the direct link between DOM chemistry and its age remains unclear, limiting a comprehensive understanding of the dynamics and fate of estuarine DOM under severe conditions (e.g.

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Long-term carbon sequestration by the ocean's recalcitrant dissolved organic carbon (RDOC) pool regulates global climate. Algae and bacteria interactively underpin RDOC formation. However, on the long-term scales, the influence of their persistent interactions close to in situ state on ocean RDOC dynamics and accumulation remains unclear, limiting our understanding of the oceanic RDOC pool formation and future trends under global change.

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Unlabelled: 16S rRNA gene sequencing is the gold standard for identifying microbial diversity in environmental communities. The Illumina short-read platform is widely used in marine environment studies due to its cost-effectiveness and high accuracy, but its limited read length restricts taxonomic identification mainly to genus or family levels. Recently, the PacBio long-read sequencing platform was developed.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study identifies a previously overlooked category of natural dissolved organic matter (DOM) called dark DOM (DDOM), which consists of unassigned mass peaks detected during molecular analysis.
  • Researchers analyzed 38 DOM samples from the Yangtze River to the ocean and found 9141 DDOM molecules, which were more diverse and had higher molecular weights than previously characterized DOM.
  • Although DDOM made up a smaller portion of total organic matter, it significantly influenced the overall molecular composition and weight of DOM, suggesting its potential role in global biogeochemical cycles and carbon storage.
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Heavy metals can impact the structure and function of coastal sediment. The dissolved organic matter (DOM) pool plays an important role in determining both the heavy metal toxicity and microbial community composition in coastal sediments. However, how heavy metals affect the interactions between microbial communities and DOM remains unclear.

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Solid-phase extraction (SPE) coupled with negative-ion Electrospray ionization (ESI) Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS) has been widely used for molecular characterization of dissolved organic matter (DOM). However, little attention has paid to test whether the salinity of the sample and the presence of chloride ions in water samples affect the molecular composition of DOM extracted by SPE (SPE-DOM). In this study, one natural organic matter standard and several natural waters were selected to investigate how salinity affects the molecular composition of SPE-DOM and the selectivity of chloride ion adducts formation with respect to the molecular structure of SPE-DOM in negative ion ESI FT-ICR MS analysis.

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Sedimentary organic matter provides carbon substrates and energy sources for microorganisms, which drive benthic biogeochemical processes and in turn modify the quantity and quality of dissolved organic matter (DOM). However, the molecular composition and distribution of DOM and its interactions with microbes in deep-sea sediments remain poorly understood. Here, molecular composition of DOM and its relationship with microbes were analyzed in samples collected from two sediment cores (∼40 cm below the sea floor), at depths of 1157 and 2253 m from the South China Sea.

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Article Synopsis
  • FT-ICR MS was used to analyze 67 DOM samples from various ecosystems (soil, lake, river, ocean, groundwater), revealing significant variability in molecular composition.
  • The study found that forest soil DOM has a strong terrestrial signature, while seawater DOM contains more stable, recalcitrant components, suggesting degradation of terrestrial organic matter through ecosystems.
  • Human activities increase sulfur and nitrogen heteroatoms in DOM, especially in impacted areas like polluted rivers and eutrophic lakes, highlighting the need for a comprehensive DOM molecular fingerprint database to aid understanding of biogeochemical cycling across ecosystems.
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Carboxyl-rich alicyclic molecules (CRAM) are highly unsaturated compounds extensively distributed throughout aquatic environments and sediments. This molecular group is widely referred to as a major proxy of recalcitrant organic materials, but its direct biosynthesis remains unclear. Steroids are a typical anthropogenic contaminant and have been previously suggested to be precursors of CRAM; however, experimental evidence to support this hypothesis is lacking.

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Phytoplankton is the major source of labile organic matter in the sunlit ocean, and they are therefore key players in most biogeochemical cycles. However, studies examining the heterotrophic bacterial cycling of specific phytoplankton-derived nitrogen (N)- and sulfur (S)-containing organic compounds are currently lacking at the molecular level. Therefore, the present study investigated how the addition of N-containing (glycine betaine [GBT]) and S-containing (dimethylsulfoniopropionate [DMSP]) organic compounds, as well as glucose, influenced the microbial production of new organic molecules and the microbial community composition.

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More than 90% of marine dissolved organic matter (DOM) is biologically recalcitrant. This recalcitrance has been attributed to intrinsically refractory molecules or to low concentrations of molecules, but their relative contributions are a long-standing debate. Characterizing the molecular composition of marine DOM and its bioavailability is critical for understanding this uncertainty.

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The molecular-level interactions between phytoplankton-derived dissolved organic matter (DOM) and heterotrophic prokaryotes represent a fundamental and yet poorly understood component of the marine elemental cycle. Here, we investigated the degradation of -derived organic matter (SynOM) by coastal microorganisms using spectroscopic and ultrahigh-resolution mass spectrometry analyses coupled with high-throughput sequencing. The added SynOM showed a spectrum of reactivity during a 180-day dark incubation experiment.

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Dissolved organic matter (DOM) changes in quantity and quality over time and space, especially in highly dynamic coastal estuaries. Bacterioplankton usually display seasonal and spatial variations in abundance and composition in the coastal regions, and influence the DOM pool via assimilation, transformation and release of organic molecules. The change in DOM can also affect the composition of bacterial community.

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Microbial degradation of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in aquatic environments can cause oxygen depletion, water acidification, and CO emissions. These problems are caused by labile DOC (LDOC) and not refractory DOC (RDOC) that resists degradation and is thus a carbon sink. For nearly a century, chemical oxygen demand (COD) has been widely used for assessment of organic pollution in aquatic systems.

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Background: Phytoplankton blooms are frequent events in coastal areas and increase the production of organic matter that initially shapes the growth of opportunistic heterotrophic bacteria. However, it is unclear how these opportunists are involved in the transformation of dissolved organic matter (DOM) when blooms occur and the subsequent impacts on biogeochemical cycles.

Results: We used a combination of genomic, proteomic, and metabolomic approaches to study bacterial diversity, genome traits, and metabolic responses to assess the source and lability of DOM in a spring coastal bloom of Akashiwo sanguinea.

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Oceanic dissolved organic matter (DOM) comprises a complex molecular mixture which is typically refractory and homogenous in the deep layers of the ocean. Though the refractory nature of deep-sea DOM is increasingly attributed to microbial metabolism, it remains unexplored whether ubiquitous microbial metabolism of distinct carbon substrates could lead to similar molecular composition of refractory DOM. Here, we conducted microbial incubation experiments using four typically bioavailable substrates (L-alanine, trehalose, sediment DOM extract, and diatom lysate) to investigate how exogenous substrates are transformed by a natural microbial assemblage.

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In this study, we investigated the microbially mediated transformation of labile Synechococcus-derived DOM to RDOM using a 60-day experimental incubation system. Three phases of TOC degradation activity (I, II and III) were observed following the addition of Synechococcus-derived DOM. The phases were characterized by organic carbon consumption rates of 8.

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The origin of the recalcitrant dissolved organic carbon (RDOC) reservoir in the deep ocean remains enigmatic. The structural recalcitrance hypothesis suggests that RDOC is formed by molecules that are chemically resistant to bacterial degradation. The dilution hypothesis claims that RDOC is formed from a large diversity of labile molecules that escape bacterial utilization due to their low concentrations, termed as RDOC .

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Article Synopsis
  • This study examined how a dextranase enzyme from a marine bacterium, called Cadex, can hinder the formation of biofilms that cause dental caries, a common infectious disease.
  • Cadex was effectively purified and characterized, showing optimal activity at pH 8.0 and 40 °C, and was influenced positively by certain metal ions like Mn and Sr, while being inhibited by others.
  • The research concluded that Cadex could be developed as a new marine-based treatment option for dental caries due to its ability to break down specific sugar bonds and limit biofilm formation.
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Most marine bacteria can produce exopolysaccharides (EPS). However, very few structures of EPS produced by marine bacteria have been determined. The characterization of EPS structure is important for the elucidation of their biological functions and ecological roles.

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Article Synopsis
  • Most marine bacteria produce exopolysaccharides (EPS), which are vital for marine ecosystems as they serve as a key source of dissolved organic carbon.
  • A study isolated EPS rich in galacturonic acid from Alteromonas sp. JL2810 and tested its bioavailability in seawater, discovering that its consumption was influenced by both its properties and the availability of nutrients like ammonium and phosphate.
  • Indicators showed that Flavobacteria from the Bacteroidetes phylum played a significant role in degrading EPS, suggesting that some unutilized EPS and newly formed humic-like substances might persist in the oceans, contributing to long-term carbon storage.
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