Multiyear analysis uncovers coordinated seasonality in stocks and composition of the planktonic food web in the Baltic Sea proper

Fridolfsson, Emil; Bunse, Carina; Lindehoff, Elin; Farnelid, Hanna; Pontiller, Benjamin; Bergström, Kristofer; Pinhassi, Jarone; Legrand, Catherine; Hylander, Samuel

doi:10.1038/s41598-023-38816-0

Cited by 3 publications

References 95 publications

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Viral challenges and adaptations between Central Arctic Ocean and atmosphere

Rahlff,

Westmeijer,

Weissenbach

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Aquatic viruses act as key players in shaping microbial communities. In polar environments, they face significant challenges like limited host availability and harsh conditions. However, due to restricted ecosystem accessibility, our understanding of viral diversity, abundance, adaptations, and host interactions remains limited. To fill this knowledge gap, we studied viruses from atmosphere-close aquatic ecosystems in the Central Arctic and Northern Greenland. Aquatic samples for virus-host analysis were collected from ~60 cm depth and the submillimeter surface microlayer (SML) during the Synoptic Arctic Survey 2021 on icebreaker Oden in Arctic summer. Water was sampled from a melt pond and open water before undergoing size-fractioned filtration and followed by genome-resolved metagenomic and cultivation investigations. The prokaryotic diversity in the melt pond was considerably lower compared to open water. The melt pond was dominated by aFlavobacteriumsp. andAquilunasp., the latter having a relatively small genome size of 1.2 Mb and the metabolic potential to generate ATP using the phosphate acetyltransferase-acetate kinase pathway. Viral diversity on the host fraction (0.2 — 5 µm) of the melt pond was strikingly limited compared to open water. From 1154 dereplicated viral operational taxonomic units (vOTUs), of which two-thirds were predicted bacteriophages, 17.2% encoded for auxiliary metabolic genes (AMGs) with metabolic functions. Some AMGs like glycerol-3-phosphate cytidylyltransferase and ice-binding like proteins might serve cryoprotection of the host. Prophages were often associated with SML genomes, and two active prophages of a new viral genera from the Arctic SML strainLeeuwenhoekiella aequoreaArc30 were induced. We found evidence that vOTU abundance in the SML compared to ~60 cm depth was more positively correlated to the distribution of a vOTU across five different Arctic stations. The results indicate that viruses employ elaborated strategies to endure in extreme and host-limited environments. Moreover, our observations suggest that the immediate air-sea interface serves as a platform for viral distribution in the Central Arctic.

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Viral challenges and adaptations between Central Arctic Ocean and atmosphere

Rahlff,

Westmeijer,

Weissenbach

et al. 2024

Preprint

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Seasonality influences gene expression in Baltic Sea microbial communities

Amnebrink

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Prokaryotes are the most abundant living organisms in the marine environment. They contribute to primary production and the recycling of its products. Collectively they influence the marine element cycles of carbon along with elements like nitrogen and sulfur. However, much remains to learn of the functional characteristics of microbial communities carrying out these processes, and how different communities respond to changing environmental conditions in space and time.The composition of marine prokaryotic communities is known to change in a seasonal manner, but how seasonality influences their gene expression or “activity” remains largely unknown. In this thesis I investigate the relationship between prokaryotic activity, relative gene expression, and seasonality using time series field data on gene expression combined with reference genomes of prokaryotic populations (metagenome assembled genomes, MAGs). This revealed pronounced seasonal succession in overall transcriptional dynamics. Importantly, roughly half of the 50 populations with highest relative abundance in transcription altered their transcriptional profiles across seasons. Thus, changes in relative gene expression on the annual scale is explained by community turnover and modulation of activity within populations. Characterization of a MAG representative of the filamentous cyanobacterial genus Aphanizomenon that forms summer blooms in the Baltic Proper, highlighted seasonal patterns in transcription of genes underlying key prokaryotic activities. This included genes related to photosynthesis (different genes expressed in different seasons), nitrogen- fixation (expression peaking in summer) and oxidative stress (peaking in winter). A mesocosm study in the Bothnian Sea using temperature and nutrient manipulations simulating the winter to summer transition showed lower growth efficiency and higher maintenance respiration in winter conditions, implying larger relative losses of CO2 through respiration in winter. Additionally, temperature, nutrients, and their combination, caused separation in both prokaryotic taxonomy and transcription of metabolic pathways. Key features included archaeal transcription of ammonium oxidation in winter conditions, and Oceanospirillales central metabolisms in summer. Taken together, these results highlight the pronounced effect of seasonality on prokaryotic community gene expression and the capability of prokaryotic populations to alter their expressed genetic repertoire. This emphasizes the importance of the temporal perspective when considering how prokaryotic communities will respond to changes in environmental conditions.

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Growth and mortality rates of picophytoplankton in the Baltic Sea Proper

Alegria Zufia,

Laber,

Legrand

et al. 2024

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Picophytoplankton (<2 µm diameter), a diverse group of picocyanobacteria and photosynthetic picoeukaryotes, are significant contributors to primary production. Predatory mortality controls picophytoplankton biomass and thereby energy transfer in the marine food web. The 2 major pathways of picophytoplankton mortality are grazing and viral lysis. Grazing passes carbon directly to higher trophic levels, while lysis products are passed into the viral loop. Picophytoplankton are abundant in the Baltic Sea but little is known about their predatory mortality. Using a modification of the dilution approach, we calculated growth and mortality rates of picophytoplankton and studied the effect of predation on community structure during late August and September. The experiments were conducted coinciding with the peak in picophytoplankton abundance (∼105 cells ml-1) at the Linnaeus Microbial Observatory in the Baltic Sea Proper. The results showed that grazing is an important controller of picocyanobacteria and photosynthetic picoeukaryote populations, while no significant viral lysis effect was detected. Grazing on picocyanobacteria was proportional to growth rates, while grazing on photosynthetic picoeukaryotes exceeded growth. Selective grazing of phylogenetically distinct picocyanobacterial clades had a significant effect on community structure, suggesting that grazing has an impact on the seasonal dynamics of co-occurring clades. Picocyanobacteria had a higher carbon transfer contribution to higher trophic levels than photosynthetic picoeukaryotes at the time of the experiments. The study shows that picophytoplankton are important contributors to carbon cycling in the Baltic Sea microbial food web and should be considered for future ecological models.

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Multiyear analysis uncovers coordinated seasonality in stocks and composition of the planktonic food web in the Baltic Sea proper

Cited by 3 publications

References 95 publications

Viral challenges and adaptations between Central Arctic Ocean and atmosphere

Viral challenges and adaptations between Central Arctic Ocean and atmosphere

Seasonality influences gene expression in Baltic Sea microbial communities

Growth and mortality rates of picophytoplankton in the Baltic Sea Proper

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