Strain-specific transcriptional responses overshadow salinity effects in a marine diatom sampled along the Baltic Sea salinity cline.

ABSTRACT: The salinity gradient separating marine and freshwater environments represents a major ecological divide for microbiota, yet the mechanisms by which marine microbes have adapted to and ultimately diversified in freshwater environments are poorly understood. Here, we take advantage of a natural evolutionary experiment: the colonization of the brackish Baltic Sea by the ancestrally marine diatom Skeletonema marinoi. To understand how diatoms respond to low salinity, we characterized transcriptomic responses of acclimated S. marinoi grown in a common garden. Our experiment included eight strains from source populations spanning the Baltic Sea salinity cline. Gene expression analysis revealed that low salinities induced changes in the cellular metabolism of S. marinoi, including upregulation o

SUBMITTER: Pinseel E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9213524 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature