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Updated: Apr 2, 2026

Laboratory-determined Phosphorus Flux from Lake Sediments as a Measure of Internal Phosphorus Loading
Published on: March 6, 2014
Heterotrophic bacteria from an extremely phosphate-poor lake have conditionally reduced phosphorus demand and utilize
Mengyin Yao1, Felix J Elling2, CarriAyne Jones3
1Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark, DE, 19716, USA.
Abstract:
Heterotrophic Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria were isolated from Lake Matano, Indonesia, a stratified, ferruginous (iron-rich), ultra-oligotrophic lake with phosphate concentrations below 50 nM. Here, we describe the growth of eight strains of heterotrophic bacteria on a variety of soluble and insoluble sources of phosphorus. When transferred to medium without added phosphorus (P), the isolates grow slowly, their RNA content falls to as low as 1% of cellular dry weight, and 86-100% of the membrane lipids are replaced with amino- or glycolipids. Similar changes in lipid composition have been observed in marine photoautotrophs and soil heterotrophs, and similar flexibility in phosphorus sources has been demonstrated in marine and soil-dwelling heterotrophs. Our results demonstrate that heterotrophs isolated from this unusual environment alter their macromolecular composition, which allows the organisms to grow efficiently even in their extremely phosphorus-limited environment.
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