Research Article |
Corresponding author: John K. Pearman ( john.pearman@cawthron.org.nz ) Academic editor: Uwe John
© 2022 John K. Pearman, Laura Casas, Craig Michell, Naroa Aldanondo, Nazia Mojib, Karie Holtermann, Ioannis Georgakakis, Joao Curdia, Susana Carvalho, Amr Gusti, Xabier Irigoien.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Pearman JK, Casas L, Michell C, Aldanondo N, Mojib N, Holtermann K, Georgakakis I, Curdia J, Carvalho S, Gusti A, Irigoien X (2022) Comparative metagenomics of phytoplankton blooms after nutrient enrichment of oligotrophic marine waters. Metabarcoding and Metagenomics 6: e79208. https://doi.org/10.3897/mbmg.6.79208
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Increasing anthropogenic pressures on the coastal marine environments impact these ecosystems via a variety of mechanisms including nutrient loading, leading to eutrophication and increases in algal blooms. Here, we use a metagenomics approach to assess the taxonomic and functional changes of the microbial community throughout a nutrient enriched mesocosm phytoplankton bloom. We tested four different nutrient treatments consisting of either nitrate and phosphate or nitrate, phosphate and silicate, administered on the first day or continuously for the first two weeks of the experiment. Our results show a shift in the taxonomic composition of the community over time that is dependent on the nutrient addition regime. Significant differences in the functional potential of the communities were detected, with an interaction between bloom period (pre-bloom, bloom and post-bloom) and nutrient treatment (p = 0.004). A sharp drop in functional similarity was observed in the first week in all treatments and after 20 days had not returned to pre-bloom levels. Changes within energy metabolism pathways showed a remarkable enrichment of the dissimilatory nitrate reduction pathway in the post-bloom period. Eukaryotic oxidative phosphorylation and photosynthetic antenna proteins were more abundant during the bloom, especially in the continuous treatment with silicate. Our results suggest that continuous (i.e. chronic) nutrient enrichment has a larger effect on the functioning of marine systems compared to a single (i.e acute) addition. A deep understanding of the functional and taxonomic shifts in the community during blooms is essential to reverse or mitigate human impacts on coastal environments.
algal blooms, eutrophication, metagenomics, nutrient enrichment
Ecological and biogeochemical processes in the marine system are driven by a diverse assortment of microbial organisms including members from the kingdoms Archaea, bacteria and Eukarya. Microbial plankton are responsible for a variety of processes, including carbon fixation (
Despite the importance of microbial organisms to the functioning of the marine system, the inherent difficulty to understand what controls a complex system with multiple connections (
Human population growth has resulted in the increased development of coastal regions leading to greater anthropogenic pressures on the coastal marine environments. One of the consequences of the increased development of the coastal zone is the higher discharge of anthropogenically related material into the marine environment. This can have an impact on the ecosystem via a variety of mechanisms including increased nutrient loading (
Mesocosm bags of 8000 l (depth: 2.5 m) were placed in the harbour of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia (22.304°N, 39.103°E). Sampling took place at solar noon over 20 days between the 27 January and 15 February 2013 (Suppl. material
A CTD profiler (Valeport Monitor CTD Profiler with an attached chlorophyll sensor) was used to measure daily profiles for temperature, salinity and fluorescence. The CTD was calibrated as per
Samples for metagenomic analysis were collected in 20 l Niskin bottles and directly transferred to carboys for immediate filtration. To avoid destruction of delicate cells during filtration, peristaltic pumps at low speed (70 rpm) filtered approximately 4 l of seawater through a 0.2 µm hollow fibre CellTrap (Mem-Teq, UK). The concentrated cells within the CellTrap were eluted using 2 ml of filtered seawater (from the same sample) and the eluted cells were immediately frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored at -80 °C for later analysis.
Nutrient samples were collected as per the protocols of
Counts of total bacteria, the photosynthetic bacterial genus Synechococcus, photosynthetic picoeukaryotes and photosynthetic nanoeukaryotes were determined using a FACSVerse flow cytometer (Becton Dickinson, Belgium). Samples filtered through a 0.4 µm mesh were fixed in glutaraldehyde (2.5% final conc.) and flash frozen in liquid nitrogen. Cells were excited with a blue laser (488 nm wavelength) and red fluorescence emissions measured to discriminate the eukaryotic phytoplankton. Beads of size 1.002 µm (Polysciences, Europe) were added for size verification.
DNA from the concentrated cells was extracted using a phenol:chloroform:isopropanol methodology combined with bead-beating, as described in
PhiX sequences were removed from the samples using the bbduk.sh script (http://jgi.doe.gov/data-and-tools/bb-tools/) before processing using the software SqueezeMeta v.1.3.0 (
To assess the taxonomic communities, open reading frames that had a phylogenetic classification to at least the kingdom level was used. The taxonomic composition was visualised in two ways. Firstly, to give an overview of the taxonomy in each treatment, ORFs were amalgamated at the class level and the percentage abundance calculated for each sample. The mean percentage abundance for each class was then calculated for each treatment. Secondly, after calculating the percentage abundance for each class, the mean was calculated for each day in each treatment. The results were visualised in in ggplot2 v.3.3.5 (
The functional potential of the metagenomes was assessed at the level of KEGG Orthology ID (KO ID) with ORFs being amalgamated at this level. To assess the shared and unique KO IDs amongst treatments, all replicates within a treatment were merged together and then the presence/absences of KO IDs in the different treatments was assessed and visualised in the R package VennDiagram v.1.6.0 (
To test multivariate differences on the relative abundance (Bray Curtis) of KO IDs, a PERMANOVA was undertaken in the R package vegan v.2.7 (Oksanen et al. 2019) using the factors bloom period (3 levels; pre-bloom, bloom and post-bloom) and treatment (5 levels; Control, NP, NPS, NP.cont, NPS.cont) with an interaction term. To assess the association of environmental variables with the functional potential, a canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) was undertaken using the variables: ammonia, nitrate, phosphate, silicate concentrations and the counts of total bacteria, the photosynthetic prokaryote genus Synechococcus, picoeukaryotes and nano eukaryotes.
Raw read numbers were used to calculate differentially-abundant KO IDs using the DESeq2 package v.1.32.0 (
Temporal differences in functional differences were calculated, based on the average similarity (1 – Bray Curtis) of the relative abundance of the KO IDs between the control treatment and the nutrient additions for each sampling day. The temporal response of select metabolic pathways was investigated. The KEGG IDs that were used for this analysis are given in Suppl. material
A total 1,583,978,528 reads passed filtering and were used for SqueezeMeta. On average, 70% of a sample reads mapped to the contigs with an N50 of 1,606 bp. The number of reads mapped per sample is detailed in Suppl. material
Proteobacteria
dominated the metagenomic reads in all conditions (Suppl. material
In the continuous treatments, relative abundances of Alphaproteobacteria were substantially higher during the bloom than in the pre-bloom period reaching an average of 59.4 ± 6.4% and 65.2 ± 7.0% in the NP.cont and NPS.cont, respectively (Fig.
The relative abundance (%) of taxonomically-classified ORFs (only those with a kingdom level classification are depicted) at the phylum level by treatment and day of the experiment. Other includes taxa not classified at the phylum level and lower abundance phyla. NP = the single nitrate and phosphate addition; NP.cont = the continuous nitrate and phosphate addition; NPS = the single nitrate, phosphate and silicate addition; and NPS.cont = the continuous nitrate, phosphate and silicate (NPS.cont) addition.
The majority (~ 92.5%) of the KO IDs were shared amongst all treatments (Suppl. material
Multivariate analysis indicated that there was a significant interaction between the variables treatment and bloom period in assessing the variation in the functional composition of the mesocosms (PERMANOVA; F = 2.14; p = 0.004). Canonical correspondence analysis (Fig.
Canonical correspondence analysis, based on the ordination of the KO IDs and constrained by environmental variables (A) and some of the outermost KO IDs related to energy metabolism (B). Points are coloured by the bloom period with shapes indicating different nutrient treatments. NH4 = Ammonium; NO2; = Nitrite; SiO4 = Silicate, PO4 = Phosphate; Syns = Flow cytometry counts of Synechococcus; Pico = Flow cytometry counts of picoeukaryotes; Nano = Flow cytometry counts of nanoeukaryotes and Bact = Flow cytometry counts of total bacteria. NP = the single nitrate and phosphate addition; NP.cont = the continuous nitrate and phosphate addition; NPS = the single nitrate, phosphate and silicate addition; and NPS.cont = the continuous nitrate, phosphate and silicate (NPS.cont) addition.
In total, there were 5,789 KO IDs that had a differential abundance (padj < 0.05) between the control and at least one of the treatments (Fig.
Enriched pathways in the nutrient treatments, based on significantly differentially-abundant KO IDs between the control and A) the continuous nitrate and phosphate (NP.cont) addition; B) the single nitrate, phosphate and silicate addition (NPS); and C) the continuous nitrate, phosphate and silicate (NPS.cont) addition.
The highest similarity between the nutrient treatments and the control was observed in the pre-bloom period with average similarity values ranging from 0.9 to 0.95. A decrease in similarity was observed in the bloom period with the largest declines observed in the treatments containing silicate with the NPS.cont treatment having a similarity value of 0.62 on day 6 and the NPS treatment having reached a low similarity value of 0.51 on day 8. The NPS.cont had an increase in similarity on day 8 before gradually declining during the post-bloom period, reaching an average similarity value compared to the control of 0.70 at the end of the experiment. For the NPS treatment, the post-bloom period showed an increase in similarity compared to the control with the average similarity being 0.72 on day 20. Regarding the NP.cont treatment, in general, similarity declined throughout the experiment, reaching an average similarity value of 0.39 compared to the control at the end of the experiment. The NP treatment, after an initial decline and then recovery in similarity compared with the control in the bloom period, showed a shallow decline in similarity compared with the control over the post-bloom period, ending up with a similar average similarity (0.71) to the NPS and NPS.cont treatments (Fig.
The average similarity based on 1 – Bray Curtis dissimilarity between the KO ID composition of the nutrient treatments compared to the control on each sampling day. Treatments are depicted in different colours. NP = single nitrate and phosphate addition; NPS = single nitrate, phosphate and silicate addition; NP.cont = continuous nitrate and phosphate addition; NPS.cont = continuous nitrate, phosphate and silicate addition.
Focussing on changes within energy metabolism pathways differential abundance analysis followed by pathway enrichment analysis was undertaken comparing the bloom period in the control to the bloom period in the nutrient treatments. It showed that oxidative phosphorylation was enriched in the NPS.cont treatment, while nitrogen metabolism was enriched in the NP.cont treatment. Comparisons in the post-bloom period showed that the nitrogen metabolism pathway was enriched for all treatments, except the NP treatment.
Investigating the KO IDs in the nitrate reduction pathways showed a switch between assimilatory and dissimilatory nitrate reduction during the experiment, especially in the conversion of nitrite to ammonia (Fig.
Mean reads per million (RPM) of selected pathways during the pre-bloom, bloom and post-bloom periods. NP = the single nitrate and phosphate addition; NP.cont = the continuous nitrate and phosphate addition; NPS = the single nitrate, phosphate and silicate addition; and NPS.cont = the continuous nitrate, phosphate and silicate (NPS.cont) addition.
Temporal differences were observed in the antenna proteins over the course of the experiment. Cyanobacterial antenna proteins (Allophycocyanin, Phycocyanin, Phycoerythrocyanin and Phycoerythrin) declined rapidly over the first 5–8 days, while the eukaryotic chlorophyll light harvesting complex increased, especially in the NPS.cont treatment, reaching a peak in the NPS.cont during the bloom on day 5 before declining again (Fig.
Temporal dynamics within the oxidative phosphorylation pathway showed that the F type ATPase (bacteria) was dominant in all treatments across time with no KO IDs differentially abundant for this ATPase (Fig.
The development of coastal environments is having a substantial impact on marine communities. The addition of nutrients into the environment has been shown to affect the microbial community and has led to phytoplankton blooms (
Metagenomic investigations are able to give a more holistic taxonomic view of the community incorporating taxa from viruses to eukaryotes without the potential of primer biases. This potentially gives a more robust understanding of the taxonomic composition of the community and, thus, providing better information for management decisions which rely on knowledge of taxonomic shifts. However, while the current sequencing effort was sufficient to detect the Bacillariophyta bloom, especially in the NPS.cont treatment, changes in other eukaryotic groups were hard to determine. While
Of the KO IDs that were annotated, over 90% of them were shared amongst all treatments. As a large proportion of the KO IDs are required for the cellular activity, the high proportion of shared KO IDs would be expected. While care should be taken due to the low number of replicates and, thus, lower statistical power, multivariate analysis showed that the addition of nutrients to the mesocosms and the progress of the bloom had a significant effect on the functional potential of the microbial community. This is further evidenced with approximately four percent of the KO IDs not being shared with the control, while 43% of the KO IDs were differentially abundant. The change in functional potential is in agreement with previous studies that have used metagenomic or transcriptomic approaches to assess phytoplankton blooms (
The addition of silicate led to a more distinct community compared with the nutrient treatments containing only nitrogen and silicate. This can be explained by the greater increase in relative abundance of Bacillariophyta, which require silicate for growth (
None of the treatments, including the control, had returned to a similar functional potential to that observed at the beginning of the experiment. However, with the exception of the NP.cont treatment, after initial drops in similarity compared to the control, there had been some recovery in similarity and stabilisation towards the end of the experiment. Different factors could explain why the community did not return to the same functional profile as before the bloom. Firstly, there may not have been sufficient time for the community to recover and this is especially true for the continuous treatments, which had nutrients supplied for the first couple of weeks and which brought about a larger and longer bloom. This could result in sufficient nutrients being recycled within the microbial loop (
Distinct temporal differences were noted in the temporal patterns of nitrate reduction. Assimilatory nitrate reduction was shown to decline early in the experiment, showing a pattern similar to that of the contribution of cyanobacteria to the community. Cyanobacteria have previously been shown to undertake assimilatory nitrate reduction (
Differences were also observed in the temporal dynamics of the antenna proteins present in the mesocosms and highlights a shift in the taxa contributing to primary production with nutrient enrichment. The prokaryotic antenna proteins (allophycocyanin, phycoerythrocyanin, phycocyanin and phycoerythrin) declined in line with the drop in the proportion of the community related to cyanobacteria. The eukaryotic light harvesting complexes increased especially in the NPS.cont treatment in line with the increase in Bacillariophyta within the community, reinforcing the results showing the shifts in the photosynthetic community with additional nutrients. Similarly, changes in the oxidative phosphorylation enzymes were noted with the shift in community with an increase in the eukaryote F and V type ATPases being observed with the increase in Bacillariophyta in the community in the NPS.cont treatment.
The sampling methodology undertaken in this study allowed for a temporal investigation of the functions occurring before, during and after a nutrient-stimulated phytoplankton bloom. Understanding, the processes occurring in each stage of the bloom (e.g. changes in nitrate reduction) is vital to understand the mechanisms of a bloom progression. This knowledge could then be used in future monitoring or remediation processes to mitigate the impacts of anthropogenic impacts (
With increasing anthropogenic impact on coastal waters, it is vital to understand how the microbial community responds to environmental changes, such as nutrient addition. In this study, we show that the addition of nutrients led to both a taxonomic and functional response in the planktonic community with continuous (i.e. chronic) nutrient enrichment having a larger effect compared to a single (i.e. acute) addition. Temporal dynamics showed that, in the time frame of the experiment, communities had not returned to comparable similarity levels to those obtained in the control, with the exception of the NP treatment. Temporal dynamics in energy metabolism pathways and especially in nitrate reduction and photosynthetic antenna proteins were evident as the bloom progressed and the nutrient conditions in the bloom progressed. The demonstration that there were functional shifts in the community as well as taxonomic shifts can provide management agencies a better understanding of how to respond to anthropogenic impacts. Understanding the mechanisms of the processes occurring in the community has the potential to improve decisions to reverse or mitigate the impacts from human impacts of coastal environments (
The authors would like to thank all those who helped during the deployment and running of the mesocosm experiment. Additionally, the authors would like to thank Prof. Jean-Philippe Croué for allowing the flow cytometry samples to be analysed using his equipment and Dr. Tony Merle for processing the samples. This research was supported by baseline funding provided by KAUST to Prof. Xabier Irigoien. The authors declare no conflicts of interest. We would like to thank the editor and three reviewers for their input into improving the manuscript.
Figure S1
Data type: Figure (pdf .file)
Explanation note: Relative abundance of open reading frames (ORFS) taxonomically classified at the phylum level (ORFs required annotation at least to the kingdom level). Only the top 15 taxa were shown.
Figure S2
Data type: Figure (pdf .file)
Explanation note: Venn diagram depicting the shared and unique KEGG IDs amongst nutrient treatments. NP = the single nitrate and phosphate addition; NP.cont = the continuous nitrate and phosphate addition; NPS = the single nitrate, phosphate and silicate addition; and NPS.cont = the continuous nitrate, phosphate and silicate (NPS.cont) addition.
Figure S3
Data type: Figure (pdf .file)
Explanation note: Changes in the abundance of enzymes (RPM = reads per million) involved in A) assimilatory nitrate reduction and B) dissimilatory nitrate reduction over time for the various treatments. NP = the single nitrate and phosphate addition; NP.cont = the continuous nitrate and phosphate addition; NPS = the single nitrate, phosphate and silicate addition; and NPS.cont = the continuous nitrate, phosphate and silicate (NPS.cont) addition.
Figure S4
Data type: Figure (pdf .file)
Explanation note: The changes in abundance (RPM = reads per million) of antenna proteins over time. AP = Allophycocyanin, PC = Phycocyanin, PEC = Phycoerythrocyanin, PE = Phycoerythrin and LHC = Light harvesting chlorophyll protein complex. NP = the single nitrate and phosphate addition; NP.cont = the continuous nitrate and phosphate addition; NPS = the single nitrate, phosphate and silicate addition; and NPS.cont = the continuous nitrate, phosphate and silicate (NPS.cont) addition.
Figure S5
Data type: Figure (pdf .file)
Explanation note: Temporal dynamics of oxidative phosphorylation related enzymes for each of the treatments. RPM = reads per million; NP = the single nitrate and phosphate addition; NP.cont = the continuous nitrate and phosphate addition; NPS = the single nitrate, phosphate and silicate addition; and NPS.cont = the continuous nitrate, phosphate and silicate (NPS.cont) addition.
Table S1
Data type: Table (xlsx. file)
Explanation note: Metadata of the samples taken during the mesocosm experiment.
Table S2
Data type: Table (xlsx. file)
Explanation note: KEGG IDs that were used in the analysis of temporal patterns of select metabolic pathways.
Table S3
Data type: Table (xlsx. file)
Explanation note: Sequencing, assembly and annotation results.
Table S4
Data type: Table (xlsx. file)
Explanation note: The percentage abundance per replicate of the top taxonomic classes per day and treatment.