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Species-specific responses of marine bacteria to environmental perturbation.

ABSTRACT: Environmental perturbations shape the structure and function of microbial communities. Oil spills are a major perturbation and resolving spills often requires active measures like dispersant application that can exacerbate the initial disturbance. Species-specific responses of microorganisms to oil and dispersant exposure during such perturbations remain largely unknown. We merged metatranscriptomic libraries with pangenomes to generate Core-Accessory Metatranscriptomes (CA-Metatranscriptomes) for two microbial hydrocarbon degraders that played important roles in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The Colwellia CA-Metatranscriptome illustrated pronounced dispersant-driven acceleration of core (~41%) and accessory gene (~59%) transcription, suggesting an opportunistic strategy. Marinobacter responded to oil exposure by expressing mainly accessory genes (~93%), suggesting an effective hydrocarbon-degrading lifestyle. The CA-Metatranscriptome approach offers a robust way to identify the underlying mechanisms of key microbial functions and highlights differences of specialist-vs-opportunistic responses to environmental disturbance.

SUBMITTER: Pena-Montenegro TD

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10516948 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Species-specific responses of marine bacteria to environmental perturbation.

Peña-Montenegro Tito D TD Kleindienst Sara S Allen Andrew E AE Eren A Murat AM McCrow John P JP Sánchez-Calderón Juan D JD Arnold Jonathan J Joye Samantha B SB

ISME communications 20230922 1

Environmental perturbations shape the structure and function of microbial communities. Oil spills are a major perturbation and resolving spills often requires active measures like dispersant application that can exacerbate the initial disturbance. Species-specific responses of microorganisms to oil and dispersant exposure during such perturbations remain largely unknown. We merged metatranscriptomic libraries with pangenomes to generate Core-Accessory Metatranscriptomes (CA-Metatranscriptomes) f ...[more]

PMID: 37736763

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Dataset Information

Species-specific responses of marine bacteria to environmental perturbation.

Publications

Species-specific responses of marine bacteria to environmental perturbation.

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