Dataset Information

Niche partitioning in the coevolution of 2 distinct RNA enzymes.

ABSTRACT: Organisms that compete for limited resources within a common environment may evolve traits that allow them to exploit distinct ecological niches, thus enabling multiple species to coexist within the same habitat. The process of niche partitioning now has been captured at the molecular level, employing the method of continuous in vitro evolution. Mixed populations of 2 different "species" of RNA enzymes were made to compete for limited amounts of one or more substrates, with utilization of the substrate being necessary for amplification of the RNA. Evolution in the presence of a single substrate led to the extinction of one or the other enzyme, whereas evolution in the presence of 5 alternative substrates led to the accumulation of mutations that allowed each enzyme to exploit a different preferred resource. The evolved enzymes were capable of sustained coevolution within a common environment, exemplifying the emergence of stable ecological niche behavior in a model system. Biochemical characterization of the 2 evolved enzymes revealed marked differences in their kinetic properties and adaptive strategies. One enzyme reacted with its preferred substrate approximately 100-fold faster than the other, but the slower-reacting species produced 2- to 3-fold more progeny per reacted parent molecule. The in vitro coevolution of 2 or more species of RNA enzymes will make possible further studies in molecular ecology, including the exploration of more complex behaviors, such as predation or cooperation, under controlled laboratory conditions.

SUBMITTER: Voytek SB

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2683078 | biostudies-literature | 2009 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Niche partitioning in the coevolution of 2 distinct RNA enzymes.

Voytek Sarah B SB Joyce Gerald F GF

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20090429 19

Organisms that compete for limited resources within a common environment may evolve traits that allow them to exploit distinct ecological niches, thus enabling multiple species to coexist within the same habitat. The process of niche partitioning now has been captured at the molecular level, employing the method of continuous in vitro evolution. Mixed populations of 2 different "species" of RNA enzymes were made to compete for limited amounts of one or more substrates, with utilization of the su ...[more]

PMID: 19416904

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Project description:Evidence increasingly suggests planktonic fungi (or mycoplankton) play an important role in marine food webs and biogeochemical cycles. In order to better understand their ecological role and how oceanographic gradients from the coastal to open ocean shape the mycoplankton community, molecular approaches were used to study fungal dynamics along a repeatedly sampled, five-station transect beginning at the mouth of an estuary and continuing 87 km across the continental shelf to the oligotrophic waters at the boundary of the Sargasso Sea. Similar to patterns in chlorophyll a, fungal 18S rRNA gene abundance showed a sharp decrease from nearshore to offshore stations. While Shannon's diversity was not statistically different across the transect, nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) ordination revealed that fungal communities at the nearshore station were significantly different from those at other stations. Even though spatial gradients were consistently strong, the shelf mycoplankton were more similar to those of the offshore communities when temperature was high (>20°C) and while they shifted toward the nearshore communities when temperature was low (<19°C), suggesting a role for additional seasonal factors (such as temperature) in shaping mycoplankton distributions. However, overall phylotype distributions were patchy with few taxa observed at all stations and the majority observed at a single station with the nearshore station exhibiting the largest number of exclusive phylotypes. Overall, our findings revealed the patchy spatial distributions and distinct niche partitioning of mycoplankton populations across a nearshore to open ocean gradient, which improved our understanding of fungal ecology in coastal waters. IMPORTANCE Fungi are an important, but understudied, group of heterotrophic microbes in marine environments. Traditionally, fungi in the coastal ocean were largely assumed to be derived from terrestrial inputs. Yet here we find many fungal taxa are endemic to the open ocean environment but are rare or absent in nearshore waters, suggesting they are not washed into the ocean from the land. As observed for the bacterioplankton, coastal oceanographic gradients can function as habitat barriers to partition fungal communities. Compared to the bacterioplankton, however, the mycoplankton exhibit a much patchier distribution pattern, suggesting differential drivers and the potential for spatially/temporally limited habitats or strong density-dependent selection. Therefore, our results show that mycoplankton in the coastal ocean may play a significant but complementary role to that of the bacterioplankton.

Dataset Information

Niche partitioning in the coevolution of 2 distinct RNA enzymes.

Publications

Niche partitioning in the coevolution of 2 distinct RNA enzymes.

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