Abstract
Polyphosphate (polyP) is found in plankton of diverse aquatic ecosystems and is important for plankton ecology and biogeochemical cycling. However, our knowledge of polyP in aquatic environments is hindered by a lack of data due to the limitations of quantification methods. The estimate of polyP in model organisms using phenol-chloroform extraction followed by enzymatic hydrolysis is complicated and fails for environmental samples. The commonly used 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) fluorescence method for environmental studies, on the contrary, severely overestimates polyP due to interference. In this paper, we develop a plankton lysis buffer to extract polyP and a quantification method using a novel polyP-specific fluorescence dye JC-D7. We test the methods using cultured algae and bacteria, as well as natural samples from marine and freshwater environments. We show that our plankton lysis extracts polyP with high recovery while requiring substantially less time and effort. Subsequent polyP quantification using JC-D7 fluorescence overcomes the interference encountered by the DAPI method and provides an accurate measurement of polyP down to <0.5 μmol L-1. This novel method enables more accurate quantification of polyP in aquatic environments and will profoundly enhance our knowledge of polyP, plankton ecology, and biogeochemistry.