Potential and expression of carbohydrate utilization by marine fungi in the global ocean

Microbiome

Federico Baltar¹  Zihao Zhao¹  Gerhard J. Herndl² 

[1] Department of Functional and Evolutionary Ecology, University of Vienna, Althanstraße 14, 1090, Vienna, Austria;Department of Functional and Evolutionary Ecology, University of Vienna, Althanstraße 14, 1090, Vienna, Austria;NIOZ, Department of Marine Microbiology and Biogeochemistry, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, Utrecht University, Den Burg, AB, The Netherlands;Vienna Metabolomics Center, University of Vienna, Althanstraße 14, A-1090, Vienna, Austria;

关键词: Pelagic fungi;    CAZYmes;    Metagenomic;    Metatranscriptomic;    Global ocean;    Carbon cycle;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s40168-021-01063-4

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundMost of the research on the cycling of carbon in the open-ocean has focused on heterotrophic prokaryotes and eukaryotic phytoplankton, but the role of pelagic fungi remains largely enigmatic.MethodsHere, we performed a global-ocean multi-omics analysis of all pelagic fungal carbohydrate-active enzymes (CAZymes), key enzymes in the carbon cycling. We studied the occurrence, expression, diversity, functional classification, and taxonomic affiliation of the genes encoding all pelagic fungal CAZymes from the epi- and mesopelagic realm.ResultsPelagic fungi are active in carbohydrate degradation as indicated by a high ratio of CAZymes transcripts per gene. Dothideomycetes in epipelagic and the Leotiomycetes in mesopelagic waters (both from the phylum Ascomycota) are the main pelagic fungi responsible for carbohydrate degradation in the ocean. The abundance, expression, and diversity of fungal CAZymes were higher in the mesopelagic than in the epipelagic waters, in contrast to the distribution pattern of prokaryotic CAZymes.ConclusionsOur results reveal a widespread utilization of different types of CAZymes by pelagic fungi, uncovering an active and hitherto largely unexplored participation of fungi in the pelagic C cycling, where pelagic prokaryotes and fungi occupy different ecological niches, and fungi becoming relatively more important with depth.DPR68aZwH4_-pLSffQvRcmVideo abstract

【 授权许可】

CC BY