Discovery of nondiazotrophic Trichodesmium species abundant and widespread in the open ocean

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (46) ◽  
pp. e2112355118
Author(s):  
Tom O. Delmont

Filamentous and colony-forming cells within the cyanobacterial genus Trichodesmium might account for nearly half of nitrogen fixation in the sunlit ocean, a critical mechanism that sustains plankton’s primary productivity. Trichodesmium has long been portrayed as a diazotrophic genus. By means of genome-resolved metagenomics, here we reveal that nondiazotrophic Trichodesmium species not only exist but also are abundant and widespread in the open ocean, benefiting from a previously overlooked functional lifestyle to expand the biogeography of this prominent marine genus. Near-complete environmental genomes for those closely related candidate species reproducibly shared functional features including a lack of genes related to nitrogen fixation, hydrogen recycling, and hopanoid lipid production concomitant with the enrichment of nitrogen assimilation genes. Our results elucidate fieldwork observations of Trichodesmium cells fixing carbon but not nitrogen. The Black Queen hypothesis and burden of low-oxygen concentration requirements provide a rationale to explain gene loss linked to nitrogen fixation among Trichodesmium species. Disconnecting taxonomic signal for this genus from a microbial community’s ability to fix nitrogen will help refine our understanding of the marine nitrogen balance. Finally, we are reminded that established links between taxonomic lineages and functional traits do not always hold true.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tom O. Delmont

Filamentous and colony-forming cells within the cyanobacterial genus Trichodesmium might account for nearly half of nitrogen fixation in the sunlit ocean, a critical mechanism that sustains plankton primary productivity at large-scale. Here, we report the genome-resolved metagenomic characterization of two newly identified marine species we tentatively named Ca. Trichodesmium miru and Ca. Trichodesmium nobis. Near-complete environmental genomes for those closely related candidate species revealed unexpected functional features including a lack of the entire nitrogen fixation gene apparatus and hydrogen recycling genes concomitant with the enrichment of nitrogen assimilation genes and apparent acquisition of the nirb gene from a non-cyanobacterial lineage. These comparative genomic insights were cross-validated by complementary metagenomic investigations. Our results contrast with the current paradigm that Trichodesmium species are necessarily capable of nitrogen fixation. The black queen hypothesis could explain gene loss linked to nitrogen fixation among Trichodesmium species, possibly triggered by gene acquisitions from the colony epibionts. Critically, the candidate species are not only widespread in the 3-2000 micron planktonic size fraction of the surface of the oceans and seas, but might also substantially expand the ecological niche of Trichodesmium, stressing the need to disconnect taxonomic signal for this genus from the ability of a microbial community to fix nitrogen. Especially, differentiating diazotrophic from non-diazotrophic populations when counting Trichodesmium filaments and colonies might help refine our understanding of the marine nitrogen balance. While culture representatives are needed to move beyond metagenomic insights, we are reminded that established links between taxonomic lineages and functional traits might not always hold true.


2021 ◽  
Vol 560 ◽  
pp. 179-185
Author(s):  
Adiza Abass ◽  
Tokuju Okano ◽  
Kotchakorn Boonyaleka ◽  
Ryo Kinoshita-Daitoku ◽  
Shoji Yamaoka ◽  
...  

1982 ◽  
Vol 92 (1) ◽  
pp. 172 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. H. Hendry ◽  
J. V. Moore ◽  
B. W. Hodgson ◽  
J. P. Keene

2013 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-91 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Bernat

Abstract In this study, the dependence between volumetric exchange rate (n) in an SBR (Sequencing Batch Reactor) with a modified cycle and simultaneous nitrification and denitrification (SND) efficiency during the treatment of anaerobic sludge digester supernatant was determined. In the SBR cycle alternating three aeration phases (with limited dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration up to 0.7 mg O2/L) and two mixing phases were applied. The lengths of each aeration and mixing phases were 4 and 5.5 h, respectively. Independently of n, a total removal of ammonium was achieved. However, at n = 0.1 d-1 and n = 0.3 d-1 nitrates were the main product of nitrification, while at n = 0.5 d-1, both nitrates and nitrites occurred in the effluent. Under these operational conditions, despite low COD/N (ca. 4) ratio in the influent, denitrification in activated sludge was observed. A higher denitrification efficiency at n = 0.5 d-1 (51.3%) than at n = 0.1 d-1 (7.8%) indicated that n was a crucial factor influencing SND via nitrite and nitrate in the SBR with a low oxygen concentration in aeration phases.


2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 2597-2605 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Karstensen ◽  
B. Fiedler ◽  
F. Schütte ◽  
P. Brandt ◽  
A. Körtzinger ◽  
...  

Abstract. Here we present first observations, from instrumentation installed on moorings and a float, of unexpectedly low (<2 μmol kg−1) oxygen environments in the open waters of the tropical North Atlantic, a region where oxygen concentration does normally not fall much below 40 μmol kg−1. The low-oxygen zones are created at shallow depth, just below the mixed layer, in the euphotic zone of cyclonic eddies and anticyclonic-modewater eddies. Both types of eddies are prone to high surface productivity. Net respiration rates for the eddies are found to be 3 to 5 times higher when compared with surrounding waters. Oxygen is lowest in the centre of the eddies, in a depth range where the swirl velocity, defining the transition between eddy and surroundings, has its maximum. It is assumed that the strong velocity at the outer rim of the eddies hampers the transport of properties across the eddies boundary and as such isolates their cores. This is supported by a remarkably stable hydrographic structure of the eddies core over periods of several months. The eddies propagate westward, at about 4 to 5 km day−1, from their generation region off the West African coast into the open ocean. High productivity and accompanying respiration, paired with sluggish exchange across the eddy boundary, create the "dead zone" inside the eddies, so far only reported for coastal areas or lakes. We observe a direct impact of the open ocean dead zones on the marine ecosystem as such that the diurnal vertical migration of zooplankton is suppressed inside the eddies.


2009 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
LP. Sartori ◽  
MG. Nogueira ◽  
R. Henry ◽  
EM. Moretto

During three consecutive years, monthly samples of zooplankton were taken in the lacustrine (dam) zone of Jurumirim (São Paulo, Brazil). The seasonal effect on basic limnological features (thermal regime, oxygen distribution, phytoplankton biomass, etc.) was also examined. The influence of the seasonality on the fluctuation of the zooplankton composition and abundance was not clearly detected (low degree of recurrent patterns). Rotifers (32 taxa) were the most abundant organisms during almost the entire study period with some seasonal alternations in the maximum abundance peaks of the main taxa (Conochilus unicornis, Keratella americana, K. cochlearis and Hexarthra spp.), except for Polyarthra (mainly P. vulgaris). Only occasionally copepods were numerically dominant. Higher copepod abundance was positively associated to periods of increase in the water retention time. Among the Copepoda (10 taxa) the calanoids (mainly Notodiaptomus iheringi) were more abundant, especially in warmer periods. Conversely, cyclopoids had higher abundance in autumn and winter. The species Thermocyclops minutus and T. decipiens co-occurred, but the first attained higher abundance. Some evidence of co-existence strategies between both species are considered. Cladocera (17 taxa) was never numerically dominant and the main taxa (Bosmina spp., Ceriodaphnia spp. and Diaphanosoma spp.) occurred almost the whole study period and did not present a seasonal pattern of fluctuation. Diaphanosoma (mainly D. birgei) attained the highest abundance among cladocerans. Most organisms were always found at the surface, but they also occupy the whole water column, even in periods of stratified conditions and low oxygen concentration in the bottom layers. Among the main zooplanktonic taxa, only Hexarthra avoids deep layers. An exceptionally high concentration of Copepoda nauplii on the surface was influenced by low transparency, high concentration of phytoplankton at this layer and low oxygen concentration at the bottom. In periods of higher retention timevariability there was a more heterogeneous distribution of the zooplankton in the water column. The increase in the retention time seems also to favor the copepod development. Finally, some inter-decade changes are considered on the basis of zooplankton assemblage structure observations.


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