Divergent gene expression among phytoplankton taxa in response to upwelling
Robert H. Lampe
Department of Marine Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Search for more papers by this authorNatalie R. Cohen
Department of Marine Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Present address: Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, USA.Search for more papers by this authorKelsey A. Ellis
Department of Marine Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Search for more papers by this authorKenneth W. Bruland
Department of Ocean Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
Search for more papers by this authorMaria T. Maldonado
Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Search for more papers by this authorTawnya D. Peterson
Institute of Environmental Health, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA
Search for more papers by this authorClaire P. Till
Department of Ocean Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
Department of Chemistry, Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA, USA
Search for more papers by this authorMark A. Brzezinski
The Marine Science Institute and the Department of Ecology Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
Search for more papers by this authorSibel Bargu
Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, School of the Coast and Environment, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA
Search for more papers by this authorKimberlee Thamatrakoln
Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, USA
Search for more papers by this authorFedor I Kuzminov
Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, USA
Search for more papers by this authorBenjamin S. Twining
Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, East Boothbay, ME, USA
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Adrian Marchetti
Department of Marine Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
For correspondence. E-mail [email protected]; Tel. (+1) 919 843 3473; Fax (+1) 919 962 1254.Search for more papers by this authorRobert H. Lampe
Department of Marine Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Search for more papers by this authorNatalie R. Cohen
Department of Marine Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Present address: Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA, USA.Search for more papers by this authorKelsey A. Ellis
Department of Marine Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Search for more papers by this authorKenneth W. Bruland
Department of Ocean Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
Search for more papers by this authorMaria T. Maldonado
Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Search for more papers by this authorTawnya D. Peterson
Institute of Environmental Health, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA
Search for more papers by this authorClaire P. Till
Department of Ocean Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, USA
Department of Chemistry, Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA, USA
Search for more papers by this authorMark A. Brzezinski
The Marine Science Institute and the Department of Ecology Evolution and Marine Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA
Search for more papers by this authorSibel Bargu
Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, School of the Coast and Environment, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA
Search for more papers by this authorKimberlee Thamatrakoln
Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, USA
Search for more papers by this authorFedor I Kuzminov
Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ, USA
Search for more papers by this authorBenjamin S. Twining
Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, East Boothbay, ME, USA
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Adrian Marchetti
Department of Marine Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
For correspondence. E-mail [email protected]; Tel. (+1) 919 843 3473; Fax (+1) 919 962 1254.Search for more papers by this authorSummary
Frequent blooms of phytoplankton occur in coastal upwelling zones creating hotspots of biological productivity in the ocean. As cold, nutrient-rich water is brought up to sunlit layers from depth, phytoplankton are also transported upwards to seed surface blooms that are often dominated by diatoms. The physiological response of phytoplankton to this process, commonly referred to as shift-up, is characterized by increases in nitrate assimilation and rapid growth rates. To examine the molecular underpinnings behind this phenomenon, metatranscriptomics was applied to a simulated upwelling experiment using natural phytoplankton communities from the California Upwelling Zone. An increase in diatom growth following 5 days of incubation was attributed to the genera Chaetoceros and Pseudo-nitzschia. Here, we show that certain bloom-forming diatoms exhibit a distinct transcriptional response that coordinates shift-up where diatoms exhibited the greatest transcriptional change following upwelling; however, comparison of co-expressed genes exposed overrepresentation of distinct sets within each of the dominant phytoplankton groups. The analysis revealed that diatoms frontload genes involved in nitrogen assimilation likely in order to outcompete other groups for available nitrogen during upwelling events. We speculate that the evolutionary success of diatoms may be due, in part, to this proactive response to frequently encountered changes in their environment.
Supporting Information
| Filename | Description |
|---|---|
| emi14361-sup-0001-appendixS1.docxWord 2007 document , 1.8 MB | Appendix S1. Supporting Information |
| emi14361-sup-0002-appendixS2.xlsxExcel 2007 spreadsheet , 56.7 KB | Data Set S1. Uniquely overrepresented genes displayed in Fig. 4C for each taxonomic group. |
| emi14361-sup-0003-appendixS3.xlsxExcel 2007 spreadsheet , 22.6 KB | Data Set S2. Chaetoceros and Pseudo-nitzschia genes that show significantly opposing expression to other diatoms. |
| emi14361-sup-0004-appendixS4.xlsxExcel 2007 spreadsheet , 50.5 KB | Data Set S3. Genes of unknown function significantly expressed in our study and with positive fold-changes in similar studies on T. pseudonana (tps) and P. tricornutum (pti). The study with T. pseudonana shows genes with positive fold-changes during exponential growth and light after three days. The dataset with P. tricornutum shows genes expressed after 48 hours of darkness followed by 24 hours of re-exposure to light. |
Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.
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