Ectoenzymatic Activity and Uptake of Monomers in Marine Bacterioplankton Described by a Biphasic Kinetic Model

Abstract The kinetics of bacterial hydrolytic ectoenzymatic activity and the uptake of monomeric compounds were investigated in the Northwestern Mediterranean Sea. Aminopeptidase and alpha- and beta-glucosidase activities were analyzed by using fluorogenic substrates at 15-22 concentrations ranging from 1 nM to 500 µM. Radiolabeled glucose and a mixture of amino acids were chosen as representatives of monomeric compounds, and the bacterial uptake rates (assimilation plus respiration) were determined over a wide range of substrate concentrations (from 0.2 nM to 3 µM). We found biphasic kinetics both for hydrolytic enzymes and uptake systems: high affinity enzymes at low concentrations of substrates (Km values ranged from 48 nM to 2.7 µM for ectoenzymes and from 1.4 nM to 42 nM for uptake systems), and low affinity enzymes at high concentrations of substrates (Km values ranged from 18 µM to 142 µM for ectoenzymes and from 0.1 µM to 1.3 µM for uptake systems). Transition between high and low affinity enzymes was observed at 10 µM for aminopeptidase and from 1 µM to 25 µM for glucosidases, and it was more variable and less pronounced for the uptake of glucose (40 nM-0.28 µM) and amino acids (10 nM-0.16 µM). Results showed that the potential rates of hydrolysis and uptake are tightly coupled only if the high affinity hydrolytic ectoenzymes and the low affinity uptake systems are operating simultaneously.