Risk–reward trade-off during carbon starvation generates dichotomy in motility endurance among marine bacteria
Copiotrophic marine bacteria contribute to the control of carbon storage in the ocean by remineralizing organic matter. Motility presents copiotrophs with a risk-reward trade-off: it is highly beneficial in seeking out sparse nutrient hotspots, but energetically costly. Here we studied the motility endurance of 26 marine isolates, representing 18 species, using video microscopy and cell tracking over 2 days of carbon starvation. We found that the trade-off results in a dichotomy among marine bacteria, in which risk-averse copiotrophs ceased motility within hours ('limostatic'), whereas risk-prone copiotrophs converted ~9% of their biomass per day into energy to retain motility for the 2 days of observation ('limokinetic'). Using machine learning classifiers, we identified a genomic component associated with both strategies, sufficiently robust to predict the response of additional species with 86% accuracy. This dichotomy can help predict the prevalence of foraging strategies in marine microbes and inform models of ocean carbon cycles.
Authors
- Clara Martínez‐Pérez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9600-3331)
- Johannes M. Keegstra (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8877-4881)
- Roman Stocker (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3199-0508)
- Benjamin R. K. Roller (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4458-8267)
- Estelle E. Clerc (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-6046-2856)
- Martin Ackermann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0087-4819)
- Francesco Carrara (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4659-2975)
- Dieter A. Baumgartner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4775-5884)
- Zachary Landry (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2316-5348)
- Sophie T Zweifel (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0001-9558-7021)
Institutions
- University of Vienna (AT)
- ETH Zurich (CH)
- Institute for Biomedical Engineering (CH)
- École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (CH)
- Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (CH)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Microbiology
- Published
- 2025-05-26
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-025-01997-7
- Citations
- 5
- Primary Topic
- Microbial Community Ecology and Physiology
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 8.58
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Simons Foundation
- Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
- Branco Weiss Fellowship – Society in Science
- Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung
- Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich
- Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
- Eidgenössische Anstalt für Wasserversorgung Abwasserreinigung und Gewässerschutz