Algal polysaccharide utilisation by saprotrophic planktonic marine fungi

Cunliffe, Michael; Hollingsworth, Anita L.; Bain, Cal; Sharma, Vikram; Taylor, John D.

doi:10.1016/j.funeco.2017.08.009

Cited by 57 publications

(72 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…In marine environments fungi appear to be more abundant in > 3 up to 90 µm size fractions (Gutiérrez, Pantoja, Tejos, & Quiñones, 2011; Richards et al., 2015), suggesting they themselves are large or are particle associated. It is likely that most saprotrophic fungi would be attached/associated with some form of particle, either organic (i.e., transparent exopolymer particles (Cunliffe et al., 2017)) or synthetic such as plastic, as this is where they can readily access carbon for growth. This means that without detailed size fractionation it would be difficult to separate true free‐living fungal communities in seawater.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The majority of OTUs classified were saprotrophs. Saprotrophic fungi are key regulators of nutrient cycles in terrestrial systems and it is thought this is true in marine ecosystems (Amend et al., 2019; Cunliffe et al., 2017; Grossart et al., 2019). It has been suggested that early biofilm colonizers on plastics, such as Bacteria, can be attracted not to the plastic's surface, but to the biofilm that could increase their access to nutrients (Oberbeckmann & Labrenz, 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, marine plastics are often covered in polysaccharide‐rich diatom biofilms (Lacerda et al., 2019), this could explain the attachment and association of fungi with biofilms on plastics (Kettner, Rojas‐Jimenez, Oberbeckmann, Labrenz, & Grossart, 2017; Oberbeckmann, Osborn, & Duhaime, 2016). Recent studies have directly linked fungi to the degradation of organic matter (Cunliffe, Hollingsworth, Bain, Sharma, & Taylor, 2017;Ortega‐Arbulú, Pichler, Vuillemin, & Orsi, 2019), and in the open ocean fungi may attach to marine snow particles (Bochdansky, Clouse, & Herndl, 2017; Duret, Lampitt, & Lam, 2020). Other marine debris such as wood also harbour fungi, suggesting that Fungi are well adapted to live on different types of floating marine substrates (Kettner, Oberbeckmann, Labrenz, & Grossart, 2019; Kettner et al., 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Diverse groups of fungi are associated with plastics in the surface waters of the Western South Atlantic and the Antarctic Peninsula

et al. 2020

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Marine plastic pollution has a range of negative impacts for biota and the colonization of plastics in the marine environment by microorganisms may have significant ecological impacts. However, data on epiplastic organisms, particularly fungi, is still lacking for many ocean regions. To evaluate plastic associated fungi and their geographic distribution, we characterised plastics sampled from surface waters of the western South Atlantic (WSA) and Antarctic Peninsula (AP), using DNA metabarcoding of three molecular markers (ITS2, 18S rRNA V4 and V9 regions). Numerous taxa from eight fungal phyla and a total of 64 orders were detected, including groups that had not yet been described associated with plastics. There was a varied phylogenetic assemblage of predominantly known saprotrophic taxa within the Ascomycota and Basidiomycota. We found a range of marine cosmopolitan genera present on plastics in both locations, i.e., Aspergillus, Cladosporium, Wallemia and a number of taxa unique to each region, as well as a high variation of taxa such as Chytridiomycota and Aphelidomycota between locations. Within these basal fungal groups we identified a number of phylogenetically novel taxa. This is the first description of fungi from the Plastisphere within the Southern Hemisphere, and highlights the need to further investigate the potential impacts of plastic associated fungi on other organisms and marine ecosystems.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Diverse groups of fungi are associated with plastics in the surface waters of the Western South Atlantic and the Antarctic Peninsula

et al. 2020

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“…Some taxa of the early-diverging fungal phylum Chytridiomycota, mainly the members of Chytridiomycetes (chytrids) (50), are virulent parasites (57-62) that can attenuate phytoplankton productivity. In addition to parasitism, some studies have shown that marine fungi metabolize phytoplankton-derived organic matter (13,14,63). The importance of interactions in driving eukaryotic diversity has been suggested for the global ocean (64), as well as for fungi.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A High-Resolution Time Series Reveals Distinct Seasonal Patterns of Planktonic Fungi at a Temperate Coastal Ocean Site (Beaufort, North Carolina, USA)

Duan

Xie

Song

et al. 2018

Appl Environ Microbiol

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There is a growing awareness of the ecological and biogeochemical importance of fungi in coastal marine systems. While highly diverse fungi have been discovered in these marine systems, still, little is known about their seasonality and associated drivers in coastal waters. Here, we examined fungal communities over 3 years of weekly sampling at a dynamic, temperate coastal site (Pivers Island Coastal Observatory [PICO], Beaufort, NC, USA). Fungal 18S rRNA gene abundance, operational taxonomic unit (OTU) richness, and Shannon's diversity index values exhibited prominent seasonality. Fungal 18S rRNA gene copies peaked in abundance during the summer and fall, with positive correlations with chlorophyll , SiO, and oxygen saturation. Diversity (measured using internal transcribed spacer [ITS] libraries) was highest during winter and lowest during summer; it was linked to temperature, pH, chlorophyll , insolation, salinity, and dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC). Fungal communities derived from ITS libraries were dominated throughout the year by, with contributions from ,, and , and their seasonal patterns linked to water temperature, light, and the carbonate system. Network analysis revealed that while cooccurrence and exclusion existed within fungus networks, exclusion dominated the fungus-and-phytoplankton network, in contrast with reported pathogenic and nutritional interactions between marine phytoplankton and fungi. Compared with the seasonality of bacterial communities in the same samples, the timing, extent, and associated environmental variables for fungi community are unique. These results highlight the fungal seasonal dynamics in coastal water and improve our understanding of the ecology of planktonic fungi. Coastal fungal dynamics were long assumed to be due to terrestrial inputs; here, a high-resolution time series reveals strong, repeating annual patterns linked to environmental conditions, arguing for a resident coastal fungal community shaped by environmental factors. These seasonal patterns do, however, differ from those observed in the bacterioplankton at the same site; e.g., fungal diversity peaks in winter, whereas bacterial diversity maxima occur in the spring and fall. While the dynamics of these communities are linked to water temperature and insolation, fungi are also influenced by the carbonate system (pH and DIC). As both fungi and heterotrophic bacteria are thought to be key organic-material metabolizers, differences in their environmental drivers may offer clues as to which group dominates secondary production at this dynamic site. Overall, this study suggests the unique ecological roles of mycoplankton and their potentially broad niche complementarities to other microbial groups in the coastal ocean.

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“…Parasitic fungi, for example, may lead to disintegration of planktonic species with negative consequences for sinking fluxes 176 , while there is limited knowledge about the role of saprophytic aquatic fungi in processes such as transformation of carbon in lake or marine snow 177 . In marine systems, saprotrophic mycoplankton can utilize algal polysaccharides, indicating that aquatic fungi can affect the flow of OM in multiple, but poorly understood ways 178 .…”

Section: Fungi In Open Water (Lakes and Oceans)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Fungi in aquatic ecosystems

et al. 2019

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Fungi are phylogenetically and functionally diverse ubiquitous components of almost all ecosystems on Earth, including aquatic environments stretching from high montane lakes down to the deep ocean. Aquatic ecosystems, however, remain frequently overlooked as fungal habitats, although fungi potentially hold important roles for organic matter cycling and food web dynamics. Within a broad ecological framework, we conceptualize the spatio-temporal dimensions, diversity, functions and organismic interactions of fungi in structuring aquatic foodwebs. We focus on currently unexplored fungal diversity, highlighting poorly understood ecosystems, including emerging artificial aquatic habitats. Recent methodological improvements have facilitated a greater appreciation of the importance of fungi in many aquatic systems, yet a conceptual framework is still missing. To date, aquatic fungi and their interactions have largely remained "hidden" and require interdisciplinary efforts to be explored in an ecosystem context. There remain obvious methodological and knowledge gaps to explore potential functions of aquatic fungi, moving from the microscale to the global scale. This knowledge is urgently needed since we humans strongly interfere with structure and function of natural ecosystems by permanently reshaping most of the Earth's surface and creating vast areas of novel urban habitats. Introduction: Recent advances in DNA sequencing technology have revealed that fungi are abundant in many, if not all aquatic ecosystems, however their diversity, quantitative abundance, ecological function and, in particular, their interactions with other microorganisms, remain largely speculative, unexplored and missing from current general concepts in aquatic ecology and biogeochemistry 1-4. This is surprising since terrestrial-focused research has understood the outstanding ecological role of fungi for >100 years, and therefore fungi constitute a major component of general concepts in terrestrial science 5,6. In aquatic ecosystems, the systematic analysis of fungal diversity and their ecological roles has faced several setbacks due to methodological limitations and a too small scientific community, in particular in the marine environment 7-11. This review focusses on aquatic fungi, which form a morphologically, phylogenetically, and ecologically diverse group 7. We here broadly define "aquatic fungi" as fungi that rely for the whole or part of their life cycle on aquatic habitats (FIG. 1). Three groups (indwellers, periodic immigrants and versatile immigrants) based on their degree of adaptation and dependence on aquatic habitats have been previously defined 12. We highlight the numerous knowledge gaps in their diversity, interactions and functional roles, as well as methodological limitations. In this review we propose new research avenues to set aquatic fungi in a broad ecological framework. Here, we do not explore the many existing gaps in the fungal phylogenetic tree. In aquatic systems, fungi constitute a significant proportion of eukaryo...

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Algal polysaccharide utilisation by saprotrophic planktonic marine fungi

Cited by 57 publications

References 21 publications

Diverse groups of fungi are associated with plastics in the surface waters of the Western South Atlantic and the Antarctic Peninsula

Diverse groups of fungi are associated with plastics in the surface waters of the Western South Atlantic and the Antarctic Peninsula

A High-Resolution Time Series Reveals Distinct Seasonal Patterns of Planktonic Fungi at a Temperate Coastal Ocean Site (Beaufort, North Carolina, USA)

Fungi in aquatic ecosystems

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