Respiration rates of marine prokaryotes and implications for the in vivo INT method

Seguro, Isabel; Vikström, Kevin; Todd, Jonathan D.; Giovannoni, Stephen J.; García-Martín, E. Elena; Utting, Robert; Robinson, Carol

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-6225-2025

Articles | Volume 22, issue 21

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-6225-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-6225-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 22, issue 21

Research article

|

30 Oct 2025

Research article |

| 30 Oct 2025

Respiration rates of marine prokaryotes and implications for the in vivo INT method

Isabel Seguro, Kevin Vikström, Jonathan D. Todd, Stephen J. Giovannoni, E. Elena García-Martín, Robert Utting, and Carol Robinson

Data sets

Respiration measurements of prokaryoplankton cultures with the INT method and oxygen consumption during laboratory experiments, May 2021-May 2022 I. Seguro et al. https://doi.org/10.5285/2be8f599-592c-5de2-e063-7086abc02acd

Short summary

This study is the first to test the iodonitrotetrazolium reduction (INT_R) method for respiration in prokaryotes. The method was successfully used with γ-proteobacteria, α-proteobacteria (including SAR11), actinobacteria and cyanobacteria. We show that the current use of a single conversion from INT_R to oxygen consumption may not be universally applicable but should be determined for each community. The results provide further confidence in the INT method to determine plankton respiration.