Latest Publications
Bacterial catabolism of membrane phospholipids links marine biogeochemical cycles
Linda M. Westermann, Ian D. E. A. Lidbury Chun-Yang Li, Ning Wang, Andrew R. J. Murphy, Maria del Mar Aguilo Ferretjans, Mussa Quareshy, Muralidharan Shanmugan , Alberto Torcello-Requena, Eleonora Silvano, Yu-Zhong Zhang, Claudia A. Blindauer, Yin Chen, David J. Scanlan
In marine systems, the availability of inorganic phosphate can limit primary production leading to bacterial and phytoplankton utilization of the plethora of organic forms available. Among these are phospholipids that form the lipid bilayer of all cells as well as released extracellular vesicles. However, information on phospholipid degradation is almost nonexistent despite their relevance for biogeochemical cycling. Here, we identify complete catabolic pathways for the degradation of the common phospholipid headgroups phosphocholine (PC) and phosphorylethanolamine (PE) in marine bacteria.