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Metabolic pathways inferred from a bacterial marker gene illuminate ecological changes across South Pacific frontal boundaries.

ABSTRACT: Global oceanographic monitoring initiatives originally measured abiotic essential ocean variables but are currently incorporating biological and metagenomic sampling programs. There is, however, a large knowledge gap on how to infer bacterial functions, the information sought by biogeochemists, ecologists, and modelers, from the bacterial taxonomic information (produced by bacterial marker gene surveys). Here, we provide a correlative understanding of how a bacterial marker gene (16S rRNA) can be used to infer latitudinal trends for metabolic pathways in global monitoring campaigns. From a transect spanning 7000 km in the South Pacific Ocean we infer ten metabolic pathways from 16S rRNA gene sequences and 11 corresponding metagenome samples, which relate to metabolic processes of primary productivity, temperature-regulated thermodynamic effects, coping strategies for nutrient limitation, energy metabolism, and organic matter degradation. This study demonstrates that low-cost, high-throughput bacterial marker gene data, can be used to infer shifts in the metabolic strategies at the community scale.

SUBMITTER: Raes EJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8044245 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Metabolic pathways inferred from a bacterial marker gene illuminate ecological changes across South Pacific frontal boundaries.

Raes Eric J EJ Karsh Kristen K Sow Swan L S SLS Ostrowski Martin M Brown Mark V MV van de Kamp Jodie J Franco-Santos Rita M RM Bodrossy Levente L Waite Anya M AM

Nature communications 20210413 1

Global oceanographic monitoring initiatives originally measured abiotic essential ocean variables but are currently incorporating biological and metagenomic sampling programs. There is, however, a large knowledge gap on how to infer bacterial functions, the information sought by biogeochemists, ecologists, and modelers, from the bacterial taxonomic information (produced by bacterial marker gene surveys). Here, we provide a correlative understanding of how a bacterial marker gene (16S rRNA) can b ...[more]

PMID: 33850115

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Dataset Information

Metabolic pathways inferred from a bacterial marker gene illuminate ecological changes across South Pacific frontal boundaries.

Publications

Metabolic pathways inferred from a bacterial marker gene illuminate ecological changes across South Pacific frontal boundaries.

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