Project description:We used single-cell sequencing data and imaging to investigate Eukaryotic plankton from environmental marine samples collected from Coogee, NSW, Australia.
Project description:we applied metaproteomic approach to capture proteins from three size-fractionated microbial communities at the DCM in the basin of the South China Sea. The deep recovery of proteomes from a marine DCM plankton assemblage provides the highest resolution of metabolic activities as well as microbial niche differentiation, revealing a spectrum of biological processes carrying out by microbes at DCM of the SCS.
Project description:Phytoplankton transform inorganic carbon into thousands of biomolecules, including polar metabolites that represent an important pool of labile fixed carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur. Metabolite production is not identical among phytoplankton, and the flux of these molecules through the microbial loop depends on compound-specific bioavailability to a wider microbial community. Yet relatively little is known about the diversity or concentration of polar metabolites within marine plankton. Here we evaluate 313 metabolites in 21 phytoplankton species and in natural marine particles across environmental gradients to show that bulk community metabolomes reflect the phytoplankton community on a chemical level.
Project description:Sea spray aerosols (SSAs) have profound effects on our climate and ecosystems. They also contain microbiota and biogenic molecules which could affect human health. Yet the exposure and effects of SSAs on human health remain poorly studied. Here, we exposed human lung cancer cells to extracts of a natural sea spray aerosol collected at the seashore in Belgium, a laboratory-generated SSA, the marine algal toxin homoyessotoxin and a chemical inhibitor of the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway. We observed significant increased expression of genes related to the mTOR pathway and Proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9) after exposure to homoyessotoxin and the laboratory-generated SSA. In contrast, we observed a significant decrease in gene expression in the mTOR pathway and of PCSK9 after exposure to the natural SSA and the mTOR inhibitor, suggesting induction of apoptosis. Our results indicate that marine biogenics in SSAs interact with PCSK9 and the mTOR pathway and can be used in new potential pharmaceutical applications. Overall, our results provide a substantial molecular evidence base for potential beneficial health effects at environmentally relevant concentrations of natural SSAs.
Project description:Three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) represents a convenient model to study microevolution - adaptation to freshwater environment. While genetic adaptations to freshwater are well-studied, epigenetic adaptations attracted little attention. In this work, we investigated the role of DNA methylation in the adaptation of marine stickleback population to freshwater conditions. DNA methylation profiling was performed in marine and freshwater populations of sticklebacks, as well as in marine sticklebacks placed into freshwater environment and freshwater sticklebacks placed into seawater. For the first time, we demonstrated that genes encoding ion channels kcnd3, cacna1fb, gja3 are differentially methylated between marine and freshwater populations. We also showed that after placing marine stickleback into fresh water, its DNA methylation profile partially converges to the one of a freshwater stickleback. This suggests that immediate epigenetic response to freshwater conditions can be maintained in freshwater population. Interestingly, we observed enhanced epigenetic plasticity in freshwater sticklebacks that may serve as a compensatory regulatory mechanism for the lack of genetic variation in the freshwater population. Some of the regions that were reported previously to be under selection in freshwater populations also show differential methylation. Thus, epigenetic changes might represent a parallel mechanism of adaptation along with genetic selection in freshwater environment. This is the RNA-seq experiment, DNA methylation data (bisulfite-seq) is provided under accession number GSE82310.