Disentangling the structure and function of mycoplankton communities in the context of marine environmental heterogeneity

Kalyani Sen; Mohan Bai; Biswarup Sen; Guangyi Wang

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.142635

Disentangling the structure and function of mycoplankton communities in the context of marine environmental heterogeneity

Sci Total Environ. 2021 Apr 20:766:142635. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.142635. Epub 2020 Oct 1.

Authors

Kalyani Sen¹, Mohan Bai¹, Biswarup Sen¹, Guangyi Wang²

Affiliations

¹ Center for Marine Environmental Ecology, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China.
² Center for Marine Environmental Ecology, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China; Key Laboratory of Systems Bioengineering (Ministry of Education), Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China; Qingdao Institute Ocean Engineering of Tianjin University, Qingdao 266237, China. Electronic address: gywang@tju.edu.cn.

PMID: 33071110
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.142635

Abstract

Mycoplankton are a diverse and ubiquitous component of marine environments with a suggested role in ocean biogeochemical cycling. Thus far, the patterns of their abundance, structure, and function against spatial environmental heterogeneity remains poorly understood. Based on in silico and experimental evaluation of multiple markers, we adopted the ITS1 region to determine the composition, guilds, and metabolic potential of mycoplankton communities in contrasting marine environments. The trophic status of estuarine (SB1 and SB2) and coastal (DB1 and DB2) sites, but not oceanic (OS) site, was the major factor that determined their abundances. While ascomycetous fungi dominated the estuarine and coastal sites, basidiomycetous fungi were found to dominate the oceanic site. The zoosporic fungi were relatively more abundant in SB1 and DB2 sites compared to the other sites. The relative abundances of the core fungi, namely Cystobasidium, Phlebia, Rhodotorula, Trichoderma, Alternaria, Penicillium, Malassezia, and Aspergillus varied widely across the sites. Additionally, several fungal genera unique to each site were also identified. DB2 site exhibited the lowest fungal richness while the OS site the highest. Conversely, the diversity and evenness were the lowest for the OS site but highest for the SB1 site. Temperature, pH, and chlorophyll-a were strongly associated with spatial diversity patterns. Of the 11 assigned guilds, some guilds particularly were not detected, including plant pathogen-wood saprotroph in DB2, the endophyte-plant pathogen in OS, the animal pathogen in SB1, and fungal parasite in DB1 and SB2. Within core functions-metabolism of amino acids, carbohydrates and energy, fatty acids and lipids, nitrogen, sulfur, and other compounds-several pathways showed spatial variations. Overall, this study not just broadens the taxonomic and metabolic repertoire of marine mycoplankton but also provides the first evidence of how these are shaped by site-scale environmental heterogeneity.

Keywords: Function; Fungi; Guild; ITS1 region; Marker; Trophic status.

MeSH terms

Basidiomycota*
Fungi*
Oceans and Seas
Plants