Carbon assimilating fungi from surface ocean to subseafloor revealed by coupled phylogenetic and stable isotope analysis.

ABSTRACT: Fungi are ubiquitous in the ocean and hypothesized to be important members of marine ecosystems, but their roles in the marine carbon cycle are poorly understood. Here, we use ¹³C DNA stable isotope probing coupled with phylogenetic analyses to investigate carbon assimilation within diverse communities of planktonic and benthic fungi in the Benguela Upwelling System (Namibia). Across the redox stratified water column and in the underlying sediments, assimilation of ¹³C-labeled carbon from diatom extracellular polymeric substances (¹³C-dEPS) by fungi correlated with the expression of fungal genes encoding carbohydrate-active enzymes. Phylogenetic analysis of genes from ¹³C-labeled metagenomes revealed saprotrophic lineages related to the facultati

SUBMITTER: Orsi WD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9038920 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature