Genome-resolved analysis reveals transcriptional transitions across seasons in Baltic Sea prokaryotes

• Microbial communities in surface waters of temperate seas are exposed to recurring annual seasonal variation in temperature and nutrient concentrations. To what extent bacterioplankton populations in natural communities alter their functional repertoire as a result of seasonal succession has not been thoroughly investigated. Here we use metatranscriptomics and leverage a comprehensive catalogue of metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) to follow gene expression in individual populations over a two-year time period at an offshore station in the Baltic Sea. We show that the collective expression of the MAGs changed in a consistent manner across seasons in the two years, forming clusters representing the four seasons, and that more than 80% of these displayed a recurring seasonal pattern. Furthermore, we found that the changes in expression could partly be explained by modulation of expression within the prokaryotic populations, since intra-population expression patterns also changed with season. Taken together, our results demonstrate how natural microbial populations alter their expression on the gene level, and how these changes drive large scale changes on both population and community level. This work aims to broaden the understanding of how microbes respond and adapt to their environment by preferentially altering their expressed genetic repertoire, and how microbial community dynamics can be explained through the gene expression of various populations constituting the community. 

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Ekologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Ecology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Mikrobiologi

Microbiology

Akvatisk ekologi

Aquatic Ecology

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vet (ämneskategori)

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