The direct measurement of ATP and adenine nucleotide pool turnover in microorganisms: a new method for environmental assessment of metabolism, energy flux and phosphorus dynamics
Bossard, Peter ; Karl, David M.
In: Journal of Plankton Research, 1986, vol. 8, no. 1, p. 1-13
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- A method has been devised which enables the direct measurement of ATP and adenine nucleotide pool turnover. The method is based upon the incorporation of 32PO4 into the α-, β-, γ-P positions of ATP. 32PO4 uptake time course experiments were conducted in seawater and freshwater samples. Determinations of the ATP concentration and of the specific activities of the α-, β-, and γ-positioned 32P in ATP at sequential time points enables the calculation of: (1) the pool size of total biologically available P in water samples; (2) the rate of biochemical energy flux; and (3) the mean microbial community specific growth rate. This method is relatively simple, straightforward and extremely sensitive. It has, therefore, the advantage that it can be employed in environments where dissolved P levels are too low to obtain reliable P flux estimates using existing techniques