Open AccessUse of an isothermal microcalorimetry assay to characterize microbial oxalotrophic activity
Author(s) -
Bravo Daniel,
Braissant Olivier,
Solokhina Anna,
Clerc Martin,
Daniels Alma U.,
Verrecchia Eric,
Junier Pilar
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
fems microbiology ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.377
H-Index - 155
eISSN - 1574-6941
pISSN - 0168-6496
DOI - 10.1111/j.1574-6941.2011.01158.x
Subject(s) - isothermal microcalorimetry , biology , isothermal process , microbiology and biotechnology , thermodynamics , enthalpy , physics
Isothermal microcalorimetry (IMC) has been used in the past to monitor metabolic activities in living systems. A few studies have used it on ecological research. In this study, IMC was used to monitor oxalotrophic activity, a widespread bacterial metabolism found in the environment, and particularly in soils. Six model strains were inoculated in solid angle media with K‐oxalate as the sole carbon source. Cupriavidus oxalaticus , Cupriavidus necator , and Streptomyces violaceoruber presented the highest activity (91, 40, and 55 μW, respectively) and a maximum growth rate (μmax h −1 ) of 0.264, 0.185, and 0.199, respectively, among the strains tested. These three strains were selected to test the incidence of different oxalate sources (Ca, Cu, and Fe‐oxalate salts) in the metabolic activity. The highest activity was obtained in Ca‐oxalate for C. oxalaticus . Similar experiments were carried out with a model soil to test whether this approach can be used to measure oxalotrophic activity in field samples. Although measuring oxalotrophic activity in a soil was challenging, there was a clear effect of the amendment with oxalate on the metabolic activity measured in soil. The correlation between heat flow and growth suggests that IMC analysis is a powerful method to monitor bacterial oxalotrophic activity.