Project description:Harmful algal blooms (HABs) produce potent neurotoxins that threaten human health. Early life exposure to low levels of the HAB toxin domoic acid (DomA) can produce long-lasting behavioral deficits, but the mechanisms involved are unknown. Using the zebrafish model, we investigated the developmental window of susceptibility to low doses of DomA and examined cellular and molecular targets. Larvae exposed to DomA (0.09 ng) at 2 days post-fertilization (dpf), but not at 1 or 4 dpf, showed deficits in startle behavior that included reduced responsiveness and altered kinematics. Similarly, myelination in the spinal cord was disorganized after exposure at 2 dpf but not 1 or 4 dpf. Time-lapse imaging revealed disruption of the initial stages of myelination. DomA down-regulated genes required for maintaining myelin structure and the axonal cytoskeleton. These results identify a developmental window of susceptibility to DomA-induced behavioral deficits involving altered gene expression and disrupted myelin structure and establish a zebrafish model for investigating the underlying mechanisms.
2019-12-06 | GSE140045 | GEO
Project description:Harmful Algal Blooms on the Norfolk Broads
| PRJNA595342 | ENA
Project description:Estuarine Microbiomes Impacted by Harmful Algal Blooms
Project description:Phytoplankton blooms provoke bacterioplankton blooms, from which bacterial biomass (necromass) is released via increased zooplankton grazing and viral lysis. While bacterial consumption of algal biomass during blooms is wellstudied, little is known about the concurrent recycling of these substantial amounts of bacterial necromass. We demonstrate that bacterial biomass, such as bacterial alpha-glucan storage polysaccharides, generated from the consumption of algal organic matter, is reused and thus itself a major bacterial carbon source in vitro and during a diatom-dominated bloom. We highlight conserved enzymes and binding proteins of dominant bloom-responder clades that are presumably involved in the recycling of bacterial alpha-glucan by members of the bacterial community. We furthermore demonstrate that the corresponding protein machineries can be specifically induced by extracted alpha-glucan-rich bacterial polysaccharide extracts. This recycling of bacterial necromass likely constitutes a large-scale intra-population energy conservation mechanism that keeps substantial amounts of carbon in a dedicated part of the microbial loop.
2024-05-14 | PXD043390 | Pride
Project description:Microbial and planktonic community characteristics in Eriocheir sinensis culture ponds with harmful algal blooms
Project description:Phytoplankton blooms represent hotspots of primary production and lead to the formation of particulate organic matter composed of living and dead algal cells. These particles are characterized by steep chemical gradients, for instance in oxygen concentration, that provide diverse ecological niches for specifically adapted microbes to thrive. Particulate fractions were collected at almost daily intervals between early March and late May in 2018. Amplicon sequencing and Meta-omics was used to asses microbial community composition and functionality at different time points.