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In contrast to the generally boron-poor terrestrial environment, the concentration of boron in the marine environment is relatively high (0.4 mM) and while there has been extensive interest in its use as a surrogate of pH in paleoclimate studies in the context of climate change-related questions, the relatively depth independent, and the generally non-nutrient-like concentration profile of this element have led to boron being neglected as a potentially biologically relevant element in the ocean. Among the marine plant-like organisms the brown algae (Phaeophyta) are one of only five lineages of photosynthetic eukaryotes to have evolved complex multicellularity. Many of unusual and often unique features of brown algae are attributable to this singular evolutionary history. These adaptations are a reflection of the marine coastal environment which brown algae dominate in terms of biomass. Consequently, brown algae are of fundamental importance to oceanic ecology, geochemistry, and coastal industry. Our results indicate that boron is taken up by a facilitated diffusion mechanism against a considerable concentration gradient. Furthermore, in both Ectocarpus and Macrocystis some boron is most likely bound to cell wall constituent alginate and the photoassimilate mannitol located in sieve cells. Herein, we describe boron uptake, speciation, localization and possible biological function in two species of brown algae, Macrocystis pyrifera and Ectocarpus siliculosus.

While there has been extensive interest in the use of boron isotope ratios as a surrogate of pH in paleoclimate studies in the context of climate change-related questions, the high (0.4 mM) concentration and the depth-independent (conservative or non-nutrient-like) concentration profile of this element have led to boron being neglected as a potentially biologically relevant element in the modern ocean. Here we report that boron affects the expression of a number of protein and genes in the "algal-associated" Gram-negative marine bacterium Marinobacter algicola DG893. Most intriguingly, a number of these proteins and genes are related to iron uptake. In a recent separate publication we have shown that boron regulates one such iron transport related protein, i.e. the periplasmic iron binding protein FbpA via a direct interaction of the metalloid with this protein. Here we show that a number of other iron uptake related genes are also affected by boron but in the opposite way i.e. they are up-regulated. We propose that the differential effect of boron on FbpA expression relative to other iron transport related genes is a result of an interaction between boron and the global iron regulatory protein Fur.

On the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the discovery of boron, we review the oceanic biogeochemistry of boron as well as suitable analytical techniques for its determination. This overview includes aspects of biogeochemistry including geochemical stable isotope variations, uptake, transport, storage, nutritional value, toxicity, and distribution within biological materials, providing a framework for discussion of the role of boron in marine organisms, which remains largely enigmatic.

Well-known as specific iron chelating agents produced by bacteria, it is shown that some, but not all, siderophore classes have an unexpected binding affinity for boron. The relevant criterium is the availability of a vicinal dianionic oxygen containing binding group (i.e., citrate or catecholate). The resulting boron complexes have been characterized by ESI-MS, multinuclear NMR, and DFT calculations. Detailed boron binding constants have been measured for vibrioferrin, rhizoferrin, and petrobactin. The observed affinity of certain siderophores for borate, a common chemical species in the marine but not the terrestrial environment, allows for small, but potentially significant, concentrations of B-siderophores to exist at oceanic pH. We hypothesize that these concentrations could be sufficient for them to function as cell signaling molecules or as mediators of biological boron uptake. In addition, binding of the tetrahedral boron to these siderophores results in a conformation that is different from either the free siderophore or its iron complex and would thus allow a distinction to be made between its iron uptake and any putative cell signaling roles.