Choanoflagellates alongside diverse uncultured predatory protists consume the abundant open-ocean cyanobacterium <i>Prochlorococcus</i>.

Abstract

<i>Prochlorococcus</i> is a key member of open-ocean primary producer communities. Despite its importance, little is known about the predators that consume this cyanobacterium and make its biomass available to higher trophic levels. We identify potential predators along a gradient wherein <i>Prochlorococcus</i> abundance increased from near detection limits (coastal California) to >200,000 cells mL^-1 (subtropical North Pacific Gyre). A replicated RNA-Stable Isotope Probing experiment involving the in situ community, and labeled <i>Prochlorococcus</i> as prey, revealed choanoflagellates as the most active predators of <i>Prochlorococcus</i>, alongside a radiolarian, chrysophytes, dictyochophytes, and specific MAST lineages. These predators were not appropriately highlighted in multiyear conventional 18S rRNA gene amplicon surveys where dinoflagellates and other taxa had highest relative amplicon abundances across the gradient. In identifying direct consumers of <i>Prochlorococcus</i>, we reveal food-web linkages of individual protistan taxa and resolve routes of carbon transfer from the base of marine food webs.