Journal: ISME Communications

Abbreviation

ISME COMMUN.

Publisher

Nature

Journal Volumes

ISSN

2730-6151

Description

Filters

20232
Reset filters

Search Results

Publications 1 - 2 of 2
  • Carbohydrates and carbohydrate degradation gene abundance and transcription in Atlantic waters of the Arctic
    Item type: Journal Article
    Priest, Taylor; Vidal-Melgosa, Silvia; Hehemann, Jan-Hendrik; et al. (2023)
    ISME Communications
    Carbohydrates are chemically and structurally diverse, represent a substantial fraction of marine organic matter and are key substrates for heterotrophic microbes. Studies on carbohydrate utilisation by marine microbes have been centred on phytoplankton blooms in temperate regions, while far less is known from high-latitude waters and during later seasonal stages. Here, we combine glycan microarrays and analytical chromatography with metagenomics and metatranscriptomics to show the spatial heterogeneity in glycan distribution and potential carbohydrate utilisation by microbes in Atlantic waters of the Arctic. The composition and abundance of monomers and glycan structures in POM varied with location and depth. Complex fucose-containing sulfated polysaccharides, known to accumulate in the ocean, were consistently detected, while the more labile beta-1,3-glucan exhibited a patchy distribution. Through 'omics analysis, we identify variations in the abundance and transcription of carbohydrate degradation-related genes across samples at the community and population level. The populations contributing the most to transcription were taxonomically related to those known as primary responders and key carbohydrate degraders in temperate ecosystems, such as NS4 Marine Group and Formosa. The unique transcription profiles for these populations suggest distinct substrate utilisation potentials, with predicted glycan targets corresponding to those structurally identified in POM from the same sampling sites. By combining cutting-edge technologies and protocols, we provide insights into the carbohydrate component of the carbon cycle in the Arctic during late summer and present a high-quality dataset that will be of great value for future comparative analyses.
  • Ocean-wide comparisons of mesopelagic planktonic community structures
    Item type: Journal Article
    Rigonato, Janaina; Budinich, Marko; Murillo, Alejandro A.; et al. (2023)
    ISME Communications
    For decades, marine plankton have been investigated for their capacity to modulate biogeochemical cycles and provide fishery resources. Between the sunlit (epipelagic) layer and the deep dark waters, lies a vast and heterogeneous part of the ocean: the mesopelagic zone. How plankton composition is shaped by environment has been well-explored in the epipelagic but much less in the mesopelagic ocean. Here, we conducted comparative analyses of trans-kingdom community assemblages thriving in the mesopelagic oxygen minimum zone (OMZ), mesopelagic oxic, and their epipelagic counterparts. We identified nine distinct types of intermediate water masses that correlate with variation in mesopelagic community composition. Furthermore, oxygen, NO3- and particle flux together appeared as the main drivers governing these communities. Novel taxonomic signatures emerged from OMZ while a global co-occurrence network analysis showed that about 70% of the abundance of mesopelagic plankton groups is organized into three community modules. One module gathers prokaryotes, pico-eukaryotes and Nucleo-Cytoplasmic Large DNA Viruses (NCLDV) from oxic regions, and the two other modules are enriched in OMZ prokaryotes and OMZ pico-eukaryotes, respectively. We hypothesize that OMZ conditions led to a diversification of ecological niches, and thus communities, due to selective pressure from limited resources. Our study further clarifies the interplay between environmental factors in the mesopelagic oxic and OMZ, and the compositional features of communities.
Publications 1 - 2 of 2