{"id":8550,"date":"2012-07-26T16:20:02","date_gmt":"2012-07-27T02:20:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=8550"},"modified":"2021-12-08T10:09:10","modified_gmt":"2021-12-08T20:09:10","slug":"scientists-confirm-vitamin-b-depletion-in-the-ocean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2012\/07\/26\/scientists-confirm-vitamin-b-depletion-in-the-ocean\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists confirm vitamin B depletion in the ocean"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 2<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
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Scientists will further research the causes and effects of newly-discovered B Vitamin-deficient zones in the ocean<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Using a newly developed analytical technique, a scientist from the University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at Mānoa<\/a> and colleagues from the University of Southern California<\/a> and Universidad Autonoma de Baja California<\/a> were the first to identify long-hypothesized vitamin B<\/abbr> deficient zones in the ocean. Their findings appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences<\/a><\/em> on July 23, 2012. <\/p>\n

B<\/abbr> vitamins are organic compounds dissolved in the ocean and are important for living cells to function. Zones poor in B<\/abbr> vitamins may inhibit the growth and proliferation of phytoplankton, which are tiny microorganisms at the base of the food chain in the ocean.<\/p>\n

The team developed a new method of concentrating water samples and then analyzing them using a mass spectrometer, which identifies and measures the quantity of an unknown compound in a given sample by first ionizing and breaking-up the compound and then quantifying the fragmented ions or molecules produced.<\/p>\n

“An important result of our study is that the concentrations of the five major B<\/abbr> vitamins vary independently and appear to have different sources and sink,” says co-author David Karl<\/strong>, professor of oceanography and director of the Center for Microbial Oceanography: Research and Education<\/a> (C-MORE) at UH<\/abbr> Mānoa. “This could lead to complex interactions among populations of microbes, from symbiosis to intense competition.”<\/p>\n

Team member Sergio Sa\u00f1udo-Wilhelmy, professor of biological and earth sciences at the USC<\/abbr> Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, said he plans to further investigate what causes varying amounts of B<\/abbr>-vitamins in different regions of the ocean, and try to determine exactly how that affects phytoplankton blooms. This includes a comprehensive set of experiments in the North Pacific Ocean as part of C-MORE’s ongoing Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Ocean Experiment.<\/p>\n

Adapted from a University of Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> at Mānoa news release<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UH<\/abbr> Mānoa’s David Karl has confirmed the existence of vitamin B deficient zones in the ocean.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[257,92,9],"class_list":["post-8550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","tag-center-for-microbial-oceanography-research-and-education","tag-school-of-ocean-and-earth-science-and-technology","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t