Adaptation to a limiting element involves mitigation of multiple elemental imbalances

Abstract

About 20 elements underlie biology and thus constrain biomass production. Recent systems-level observations indicate that altered supply of one element impacts the processing of most elements encompassing an organism (i.e. ionome). Little is known about the evolutionary tendencies of ionomes as populations adapt to distinct biogeochemical environments. We evolved the bacterium Serratia marcescens under five conditions (i.e. low carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus, iron or manganese) that limited the yield of the ancestor compared with replete medium, and measured the concentrations and use efficiency of these five, and five other elements. Both physiological responses of the ancestor, as well as evolutionary responses of descendants to experimental environments involved changes in the content and use efficiencies of the limiting element, and several others. Differences in coefficients of variation in elemental contents based on biological functions were evident, with those involved in biochemical building (C, N, P, S) varying least, followed by biochemical balance (Ca, K, Mg, Na), and biochemical catalysis (Fe, Mn). Finally, descendants evolved to mitigate elemental imbalances evident in the ancestor in response to limiting conditions. Understanding the tendencies of such ionomic responses will be useful to better forecast biological responses to geochemical changes.

Wild Bee is an Important Contributor to the Nutrient Cycle, as Shown by Biogeochemical Niche Analysis of Osmia Bicornis

“…All living things depend heavily on N and P for their proper functioning, and the way these elements move and are recycled in the environment is largely controlled by biological mechanisms (Sterner & Elser 2002). These elements have therefore played (Williams & Rickaby 2012), and continue to play (Jeyasingh et al 2023), an important role in biochemical evolution, shaping the life histories of organisms and their ecological interactions (Isanta-Navarro et al 2022;Sterner & Elser 2002). Assuming that N and P have played an essential role in the evolution of plant-pollinator interactions due to their biological significance, it is reasonable to anticipate that animal-pollinated plants would exhibit higher concentrations of these elements in their pollen than wind-pollinated plants.…”

“…Within this context, organismal traits associated with foraging and nutrient processing are under selection pressure and significantly impact the elemental composition of an organism Jeyasingh & Weider 2007). Consequently, the ionome, which means a whole set of ~25 elements involving organismal bodies (Jeyasingh et al 2014;Salt et al 2008;Williams & da Silva 2006), is subject to selection (Jeyasingh et al 2014(Jeyasingh et al , 2023Kay & Vrede 2008). With reference to these fundamental laws of nature, the concept of the biogeochemical niche has been developed (Peñuelas et al 2008(Peñuelas et al , 2019.…”

Rich Dynamics of a General Producer–Grazer Interaction Model under Shared Multiple Resource Limitations

“…The overall growth of an organism is then the result of the interactions of all of these resources, or their combined limitation. Furthermore, due to the interconnected nature of these resources, changing the supply of one resource may have a cascading effect on the acquisition and processing of other resources [3,4]. Recent studies have reconciled LLM to be a special case within the complex growth dynamics plane [5][6][7][8].…”