Exoenzyme accumulation in epilithic biofilms

Although exoenzyme accumulation is often proposed as an explanation for the high metabolic activity of biofilms, little is known about the abundance, distribution and turnover rates of exoenzymes within these communities. To assess accumulation, epilithic biofilm samples were collected from a fourth...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Hydrobiologia 1991-09, Vol.222 (1), p.29-37
Main Authors: SINSABAUGH, R. L, REPERT, D, WEILAND, T, GOLLADAY, S. W, LINKINS, A. E
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Biological and medical sciences
Freshwater
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Although exoenzyme accumulation is often proposed as an explanation for the high metabolic activity of biofilms, little is known about the abundance, distribution and turnover rates of exoenzymes within these communities. To assess accumulation, epilithic biofilm samples were collected from a fourth-order boreal river and homogenized. The resulting particles were fractionated by size and each fraction was assayed for nine exoenzyme activities, chlorophyll, and ATP. In general, carbohydrase activities were not correlated with microbial biomass indicators; the largest pool of activity was in the aqueous phase (< 0.2 mu m). Phenol oxidase, peroxidase, and phosphatase activities were largely particle-bound and often correlated with microbial biomass distribution. It was concluded that the epilithic biofilm matrix was effective at accumulating carbohydrase activity and that this accumulation may partially account for the metabolic resistance of epilithic biofilms to dissolved organic matter fluctuations.
ISSN:0018-8158
1573-5117
DOI:10.1007/BF00017497