IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v13y2022i1d10.1038_s41467-022-28065-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Overlooked and widespread pennate diatom-diazotroph symbioses in the sea

Author

Listed:
  • Christopher R. Schvarcz

    (University of Hawai’i at Mānoa)

  • Samuel T. Wilson

    (University of Hawai’i at Mānoa)

  • Mathieu Caffin

    (University of Hawai’i at Mānoa)

  • Rosalina Stancheva

    (California State University San Marcos)

  • Qian Li

    (University of Hawai’i at Mānoa
    Shanghai Jiao Tong University)

  • Kendra A. Turk-Kubo

    (University of California)

  • Angelicque E. White

    (University of Hawai’i at Mānoa)

  • David M. Karl

    (University of Hawai’i at Mānoa)

  • Jonathan P. Zehr

    (University of California)

  • Grieg F. Steward

    (University of Hawai’i at Mānoa)

Abstract

Persistent nitrogen depletion in sunlit open ocean waters provides a favorable ecological niche for nitrogen-fixing (diazotrophic) cyanobacteria, some of which associate symbiotically with eukaryotic algae. All known marine examples of these symbioses have involved either centric diatom or haptophyte hosts. We report here the discovery and characterization of two distinct marine pennate diatom-diazotroph symbioses, which until now had only been observed in freshwater environments. Rhopalodiaceae diatoms Epithemia pelagica sp. nov. and Epithemia catenata sp. nov. were isolated repeatedly from the subtropical North Pacific Ocean, and analysis of sequence libraries reveals a global distribution. These symbioses likely escaped attention because the endosymbionts lack fluorescent photopigments, have nifH gene sequences similar to those of free-living unicellular cyanobacteria, and are lost in nitrogen-replete medium. Marine Rhopalodiaceae-diazotroph symbioses are a previously overlooked but widespread source of bioavailable nitrogen in marine habitats and provide new, easily cultured model organisms for the study of organelle evolution.

Suggested Citation

  • Christopher R. Schvarcz & Samuel T. Wilson & Mathieu Caffin & Rosalina Stancheva & Qian Li & Kendra A. Turk-Kubo & Angelicque E. White & David M. Karl & Jonathan P. Zehr & Grieg F. Steward, 2022. "Overlooked and widespread pennate diatom-diazotroph symbioses in the sea," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-28065-6
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-28065-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-28065-6
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-022-28065-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Seung Yeo Moon-van der Staay & Rupert De Wachter & Daniel Vaulot, 2001. "Oceanic 18S rDNA sequences from picoplankton reveal unsuspected eukaryotic diversity," Nature, Nature, vol. 409(6820), pages 607-610, February.
    2. Juan José Pierella Karlusich & Eric Pelletier & Fabien Lombard & Madeline Carsique & Etienne Dvorak & Sébastien Colin & Marc Picheral & Francisco M. Cornejo-Castillo & Silvia G. Acinas & Rainer Pepper, 2021. "Global distribution patterns of marine nitrogen-fixers by imaging and molecular methods," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-18, December.
    3. Francisco M. Cornejo-Castillo & Ana M. Cabello & Guillem Salazar & Patricia Sánchez-Baracaldo & Gipsi Lima-Mendez & Pascal Hingamp & Adriana Alberti & Shinichi Sunagawa & Peer Bork & Colomban de Varga, 2016. "Cyanobacterial symbionts diverged in the late Cretaceous towards lineage-specific nitrogen fixation factories in single-celled phytoplankton," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 7(1), pages 1-9, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Katie J. Harding & Kendra A. Turk-Kubo & Esther Wing Kwan Mak & Peter K. Weber & Xavier Mayali & Jonathan P. Zehr, 2022. "Cell-specific measurements show nitrogen fixation by particle-attached putative non-cyanobacterial diazotrophs in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yuguo Xia & Qianfu Liu & Shuli Zhu & Yuefei Li & Xinhui Li & Jie Li, 2022. "Do Changes in Prey Community in the Environment Affect the Feeding Selectivity of Silver Carp ( Hypophthalmichthys molitrix ) in the Pearl River, China?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-14, September.
    2. Katie J. Harding & Kendra A. Turk-Kubo & Esther Wing Kwan Mak & Peter K. Weber & Xavier Mayali & Jonathan P. Zehr, 2022. "Cell-specific measurements show nitrogen fixation by particle-attached putative non-cyanobacterial diazotrophs in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    3. Corey C. Holt & Elisabeth Hehenberger & Denis V. Tikhonenkov & Victoria K. L. Jacko-Reynolds & Noriko Okamoto & Elizabeth C. Cooney & Nicholas A. T. Irwin & Patrick J. Keeling, 2023. "Multiple parallel origins of parasitic Marine Alveolates," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-14, December.
    4. Xiyang Dong & Chuwen Zhang & Yongyi Peng & Hong-Xi Zhang & Ling-Dong Shi & Guangshan Wei & Casey R. J. Hubert & Yong Wang & Chris Greening, 2022. "Phylogenetically and catabolically diverse diazotrophs reside in deep-sea cold seep sediments," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-14, December.
    5. Benedikt Ehrenfels & Kathrin B. L. Baumann & Robert Niederdorfer & Athanasio S. Mbonde & Ismael A. Kimirei & Thomas Kuhn & Paul M. Magyar & Daniel Odermatt & Carsten J. Schubert & Helmut Bürgmann & Mo, 2023. "Hydrodynamic regimes modulate nitrogen fixation and the mode of diazotrophy in Lake Tanganyika," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-13, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-28065-6. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.