Taxon-Specific Shifts in Bacterial and Archaeal Transcription of Dissolved
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bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.06.02.446852; this version posted June 5, 2021. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY 4.0 International license. 1 Taxon-specific shifts in bacterial and archaeal transcription of dissolved 2 organic matter cycling genes in a stratified fjord 3 4 Benjamin Pontiller1, Clara Pérez-Martínez1, Carina Bunse1, 2, 3, Christofer M.G. Osbeck1, José 5 M. González4, Daniel Lundin1, Jarone Pinhassi1* 6 7 1Centre for Ecology and Evolution in Microbial Model Systems – EEMiS, Linnaeus 8 University, Stuvaregatan 4, SE-39182 Kalmar, Sweden. 9 2Helmholtz-Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity at the University of Oldenburg 10 (HIFMB), Ammerländer Heerstrasse 231, DE-26129 Oldenburg, Germany. 11 3Institute for the Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment, University of Oldenburg, 12 DE-26111 Oldenburg, Germany. 13 4Department of Microbiology, University of La Laguna, ES-38200 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain. 14 15 *Corresponding author: [email protected] 16 17 Keywords: Marine bacteria, Metatranscriptomics, Dissolved organic carbon, Carbohydrate- 18 active enzymes (CAZymes), Peptidases, Transporters, Vertical depth gradients, Stratification, 19 Nitrosopumilus, Fjord 20 21 Running title: Stratification in marine prokaryotic transcription 22 1 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.06.02.446852; this version posted June 5, 2021. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY 4.0 International license. 23 ABSTRACT 24 A considerable fraction of organic matter derived from photosynthesis in the euphotic zone 25 settles into the ocean’s interior, and under way is degraded by diverse microbial consortia that 26 utilize a suite of extracellular enzymes and membrane transporters. Still, the molecular details 27 that regulate carbon cycling across depths remain little explored. As stratification in fjords has 28 made them attractive models to explore patterns in biological oceanography, we here analyzed 29 bacterial and archaeal transcription in samples from five depth layers in the Gullmar Fjord, 30 Sweden. Transcriptional variation over depth correlated with gradients in chlorophyll a and 31 nutrient concentrations. Differences in transcription between sampling dates (summer and early 32 autumn), were strongly correlated with ammonium concentrations, which potentially was 33 linked with a stronger influence of (micro-)zooplankton grazing in summer. Transcriptional 34 investment in carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes) decreased with depth and shifted 35 toward peptidases, partly a result of elevated CAZyme transcription by Flavobacteriales, 36 Cellvibrionales and Synechococcales at 2-25 m and a dominance of peptidase transcription by 37 Alteromonadales and Rhodobacterales from 50 m and down. In particular, CAZymes for chitin, 38 laminarin, and glycogen were important. High levels of transcription of ammonium 39 transporters by Thaumarchaeota at depth (up to 18% of total transcription), along with the 40 genes for ammonia oxidation and CO2-fixation, indicated that chemolithoautotrophy 41 contributed to the carbon flux in the fjord. The taxon-specific expression of functional genes 42 for processing of the marine DOM pool and nutrients across depths emphasizes the importance 43 of different microbial foraging mechanisms across spatiotemporal scales for shaping 44 biogeochemical cycles. 45 46 2 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.06.02.446852; this version posted June 5, 2021. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY 4.0 International license. 47 IMPORTANCE 48 It is generally recognized that stratification in the ocean strongly influences both the 49 community composition and the distribution of ecological functions of microbial communities, 50 which in turn are expected to shape the biogeochemical cycling of essential elements over 51 depth. Here we used metatranscriptomics analyses to infer molecular detail on the Distribution 52 of gene systems central to the utilization of organic matter in a stratified marine system. We 53 thereby uncovered that pronounced shifts in transcription of genes encoding CAZymes, 54 peptidases, and membrane transporters occurred over depth among key prokaryotic orders. 55 This implies that sequential utilization and transformation of organic matter through the water 56 column is a key feature that ultimately influences the efficiency of the biological carbon pump. 57 58 INTRODUCTION 59 Major portions of the primary production in the photic zone – up to ~40% of the 60 photosynthetically fixed carbon – is transported vertically in the form of particulate organic 61 matter into the ocean’s interior in a process referred to as the biological carbon pump (1). This 62 sinking organic matter is degraded by heterotrophic bacteria via extracellular enzymes that 63 remineralize large proportions to carbon dioxide (2). Sinking particles cross steep gradients in 64 light, temperature, nutrients, and hydrostatic pressure (3). Commonly, density gradients limit 65 mixing between water masses, which disrupts the connectivity of microbial communities and 66 nutrient fluxes. Stratification thereby strongly influences both the microbial community 67 composition and the ecological function of these communities (4). This is for example visible 68 in the replacement of phototrophy genes dominating in surface waters by chemolithoautotrophy 69 genes at depth (5-9). This suggests that a pronounced variability in the genetic repertoire of 70 bacteria and archaea is involved in the processing and uptake of nutrients and organic matter 71 throughout the water column in the open ocean. 3 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.06.02.446852; this version posted June 5, 2021. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY 4.0 International license. 72 In the ocean, the bulk – community level – extracellular enzymatic hydrolysis rates 73 rapidly decrease from epipelagic to bathypelagic zones, whereas the per-cell rates increase, 74 indicating an increased microbial reliance on high molecular weight dissolved organic matter 75 (HMW-DOM) with depth (10, 11). Actually, the hydrolysis of HMW-DOM is considered the 76 rate-limiting step in the marine carbon cycle (12) and bacteria secrete hydrolytic enzymes to 77 utilize particular organic matter and biopolymers (13), e.g. carbohydrate-active enzymes 78 (CAZymes) and peptidases (PEPs), that cleave HMW-DOM into molecules smaller than ~600 79 Da that can be transported through the cell membrane (14). A few recent studies applied 80 metagenomics to study the spatial and vertical distribution of CAZyme and PEP genes (15-18). 81 For instance, analysis of 94 metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) from the Mediterranean 82 Sea uncovered a pronounced depth-related taxonomic and functional specialization in 83 degradation of polysaccharides dominated by Bacteroidetes, Verrucomicrobia, and 84 Cyanobacteria (18). Zhao and colleagues (2020) applied a multi-omics approach encompassing 85 a broad spatial and vertical coverage, showing that both the abundance and diversity of 86 dissolved enzymes excreteD by particle-attached prokaryotes consistently increased from epi- 87 to bathypelagic waters (16). Still, knowledge of the concrete expression of these enzymes by 88 different taxa through the water column is limited. 89 Fjord ecosystems exhibit pronounced vertical gradients in physicochemical and 90 biological conditions, in qualitative aspects reflecting gradients observed in other stratified 91 coastal and offshore marine waters. Due to the reduced scaling of conditions in space and time, 92 fjords are at times referred to as model oceans (19-21). Kristineberg Marine Research Station, 93 created in 1877 and located in the Gullmar Fjord – a sill fjord on the west coast of Sweden – is 94 one of the oldest marine research stations in the world. The extensive knowledge of the 95 physical, chemical, and biological oceanography in the fjord provides a solid background 96 against which to determine aspects of the microbial oceanography (22). Therefore, to obtain 4 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.06.02.446852; this version posted June 5, 2021. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under aCC-BY 4.0 International license. 97 novel mechanistic knowledge of the functional degradation of biopolymers with depth and the 98 microbial taxa that produce the required enzymes, we applied environmental 99 metatranscriptomics to investigate the expression of polymer degrading enzyme systems (i.e., 100 CAZymes and PEPs). As we aimed at studying the combined responses of both degradation 101 and uptake of ecologically important DOM compounds or nutrients in this system, we included 102 membrane transporters in the analysis.