TY - JOUR A1 - Wurzbacher, Christian A1 - Fuchs, Andrea A1 - Attermeyer, Katrin A1 - Frindte, Katharina A1 - Grossart, Hans-Peter A1 - Hupfer, Michael A1 - Casper, Peter A1 - Monaghan, Michael T. T1 - Shifts among Eukaryota, Bacteria, and Archaea define the vertical organization of a lake sediment JF - Microbiome N2 - Background: Lake sediments harbor diverse microbial communities that cycle carbon and nutrients while being constantly colonized and potentially buried by organic matter sinking from the water column. The interaction of activity and burial remained largely unexplored in aquatic sediments. We aimed to relate taxonomic composition to sediment biogeochemical parameters, test whether community turnover with depth resulted from taxonomic replacement or from richness effects, and to provide a basic model for the vertical community structure in sediments. Methods: We analyzed four replicate sediment cores taken from 30-m depth in oligo-mesotrophic Lake Stechlin in northern Germany. Each 30-cm core spanned ca. 170 years of sediment accumulation according to Cs-137 dating and was sectioned into layers 1-4 cm thick. We examined a full suite of biogeochemical parameters and used DNA metabarcoding to examine community composition of microbial Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukaryota. Results: Community beta-diversity indicated nearly complete turnover within the uppermost 30 cm. We observed a pronounced shift from Eukaryota- and Bacteria-dominated upper layers (<5 cm) to Bacteria-dominated intermediate layers (5-14 cm) and to deep layers (>14 cm) dominated by enigmatic Archaea that typically occur in deep-sea sediments. Taxonomic replacement was the prevalent mechanism in structuring the community composition and was linked to parameters indicative of microbial activity (e.g., CO2 and CH4 concentration, bacterial protein production). Richness loss played a lesser role but was linked to conservative parameters (e.g., C, N, P) indicative of past conditions. Conclusions: By including all three domains, we were able to directly link the exponential decay of eukaryotes with the active sediment microbial community. The dominance of Archaea in deeper layers confirms earlier findings from marine systems and establishes freshwater sediments as a potential low-energy environment, similar to deep sea sediments. We propose a general model of sediment structure and function based on microbial characteristics and burial processes. An upper "replacement horizon" is dominated by rapid taxonomic turnover with depth, high microbial activity, and biotic interactions. A lower "depauperate horizon" is characterized by low taxonomic richness, more stable "low-energy" conditions, and a dominance of enigmatic Archaea. KW - Archaea KW - Eukaryota KW - Bacteria KW - Community KW - Freshwater KW - Lake KW - DNA metabarcoding KW - Beta-diversity KW - Sediment KW - Turnover Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-017-0255-9 SN - 2049-2618 VL - 5 PB - BioMed Central CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Garcia, Sarahi L. A1 - Buck, Moritz A1 - Hamilton, Joshua J. A1 - Wurzbacher, Christian A1 - Grossart, Hans-Peter A1 - McMahon, Katherine D. A1 - Eiler, Alexander T1 - Model communities hint at promiscuous metabolic linkages between ubiquitous free-living freshwater bacteria JF - mSphere N2 - Genome streamlining is frequently observed in free-living aquatic microorganisms and results in physiological dependencies between microorganisms. However, we know little about the specificity of these microbial associations. In order to examine the specificity and extent of these associations, we established mixed cultures from three different freshwater environments and analyzed the cooccurrence of organisms using a metagenomic time series. Free-living microorganisms with streamlined genomes lacking multiple biosynthetic pathways showed no clear recurring pattern in their interaction partners. Free-living freshwater bacteria form promiscuous cooperative associations. This notion contrasts with the well-documented high specificities of interaction partners in host-associated bacteria. Considering all data together, we suggest that highly abundant free-living bacterial lineages are functionally versatile in their interactions despite their distinct streamlining tendencies at the single-cell level. This metabolic versatility facilitates interactions with a variable set of community members. KW - community KW - interactions KW - metagenomics KW - microbial ecology KW - mixed cultures KW - promiscuous Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1128/mSphere.00202-18 SN - 2379-5042 VL - 3 IS - 3 PB - American Society for Microbiology CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Grossart, Hans-Peter A1 - Van den Wyngaert, Silke A1 - Kagami, Maiko A1 - Wurzbacher, Christian A1 - Cunliffe, Michael A1 - Rojas-Jimenz, Keilor T1 - Fungi in aquatic ecosystems JF - Nature reviews. Microbiology N2 - Fungi are phylogenetically and functionally diverse ubiquitous components of almost all ecosystems on Earth, including aquatic environments stretching from high montane lakes down to the deep ocean. Aquatic ecosystems, however, remain frequently overlooked as fungal habitats, although fungi potentially hold important roles for organic matter cycling and food web dynamics. Recent methodological improvements have facilitated a greater appreciation of the importance of fungi in many aquatic systems, yet a conceptual framework is still missing. In this Review, we conceptualize the spatiotemporal dimensions, diversity, functions and organismic interactions of fungi in structuring aquatic food webs. We focus on currently unexplored fungal diversity, highlighting poorly understood ecosystems, including emerging artificial aquatic habitats. Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-019-0175-8 SN - 1740-1526 SN - 1740-1534 VL - 17 IS - 6 SP - 339 EP - 354 PB - Nature Publ. Group CY - Basingstoke ER - TY - GEN A1 - Wurzbacher, Christian A1 - Fuchs, Andrea A1 - Attermeyer, Katrin A1 - Frindte, Katharina A1 - Grossart, Hans-Peter A1 - Hupfer, Michael A1 - Casper, Peter A1 - Monaghan, Michael T. T1 - Shifts among Eukaryota, Bacteria, and Archaea define the vertical organization of a lake sediment T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - Background Lake sediments harbor diverse microbial communities that cycle carbon and nutrients while being constantly colonized and potentially buried by organic matter sinking from the water column. The interaction of activity and burial remained largely unexplored in aquatic sediments. We aimed to relate taxonomic composition to sediment biogeochemical parameters, test whether community turnover with depth resulted from taxonomic replacement or from richness effects, and to provide a basic model for the vertical community structure in sediments. Methods We analyzed four replicate sediment cores taken from 30-m depth in oligo-mesotrophic Lake Stechlin in northern Germany. Each 30-cm core spanned ca. 170 years of sediment accumulation according to 137Cs dating and was sectioned into layers 1–4 cm thick. We examined a full suite of biogeochemical parameters and used DNA metabarcoding to examine community composition of microbial Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukaryota. Results Community β-diversity indicated nearly complete turnover within the uppermost 30 cm. We observed a pronounced shift from Eukaryota- and Bacteria-dominated upper layers (<5 cm) to Bacteria-dominated intermediate layers (5–14 cm) and to deep layers (>14 cm) dominated by enigmatic Archaea that typically occur in deep-sea sediments. Taxonomic replacement was the prevalent mechanism in structuring the community composition and was linked to parameters indicative of microbial activity (e.g., CO2 and CH4 concentration, bacterial protein production). Richness loss played a lesser role but was linked to conservative parameters (e.g., C, N, P) indicative of past conditions. Conclusions By including all three domains, we were able to directly link the exponential decay of eukaryotes with the active sediment microbial community. The dominance of Archaea in deeper layers confirms earlier findings from marine systems and establishes freshwater sediments as a potential low-energy environment, similar to deep sea sediments. We propose a general model of sediment structure and function based on microbial characteristics and burial processes. An upper “replacement horizon” is dominated by rapid taxonomic turnover with depth, high microbial activity, and biotic interactions. A lower “depauperate horizon” is characterized by low taxonomic richness, more stable “low-energy” conditions, and a dominance of enigmatic Archaea. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 1111 KW - Archaea KW - Eukaryota KW - Bacteria KW - community KW - freshwater KW - lake KW - DNA metabarcoding KW - beta-diversity KW - sediment KW - turnover Y1 - 2021 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-431965 SN - 1866-8372 IS - 1111 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wurzbacher, Christian A1 - Attermeyer, Katrin A1 - Kettner, Marie Therese A1 - Flintrop, Clara A1 - Warthmann, Norman A1 - Hilt, Sabine A1 - Grossart, Hans-Peter A1 - Monaghan, Michael T. T1 - DNA metabarcoding of unfractionated water samples relates phyto-, zoo- and bacterioplankton dynamics and reveals a single-taxon bacterial bloom JF - Environmental microbiology reports N2 - Most studies of aquatic plankton focus on either macroscopic or microbial communities, and on either eukaryotes or prokaryotes. This separation is primarily for methodological reasons, but can overlook potential interactions among groups. Here we tested whether DNA metabarcoding of unfractionated water samples with universal primers could be used to qualitatively and quantitatively study the temporal dynamics of the total plankton community in a shallow temperate lake. Significant changes in the relative proportions of normalized sequence reads of eukaryotic and prokaryotic plankton communities over a 3-month period in spring were found. Patterns followed the same trend as plankton estimates measured using traditional microscopic methods. The bloom of a conditionally rare bacterial taxon belonging to Arcicella was characterized, which rapidly came to dominate the whole lake ecosystem and would have remained unnoticed without metabarcoding. The data demonstrate the potential of universal DNA metabarcoding applied to unfractionated samples for providing a more holistic view of plankton communities. Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/1758-2229.12540 SN - 1758-2229 VL - 9 SP - 383 EP - 388 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Frenken, Thijs A1 - Alacid, Elisabet A1 - Berger, Stella A. A1 - Bourne, Elizabeth Charlotte A1 - Gerphagnon, Melanie A1 - Großart, Hans-Peter A1 - Gsell, Alena S. A1 - Ibelings, Bas W. A1 - Kagami, Maiko A1 - Kupper, Frithjof C. A1 - Letcher, Peter M. A1 - Loyau, Adeline A1 - Miki, Takeshi A1 - Nejstgaard, Jens C. A1 - Rasconi, Serena A1 - Rene, Albert A1 - Rohrlack, Thomas A1 - Rojas-Jimenez, Keilor A1 - Schmeller, Dirk S. A1 - Scholz, Bettina A1 - Seto, Kensuke A1 - Sime-Ngando, Telesphore A1 - Sukenik, Assaf A1 - Van de Waal, Dedmer B. A1 - Van den Wyngaert, Silke A1 - Van Donk, Ellen A1 - Wolinska, Justyna A1 - Wurzbacher, Christian A1 - Agha, Ramsy T1 - Integrating chytrid fungal parasites into plankton ecology: research gaps and needs JF - Environmental microbiology N2 - Chytridiomycota, often referred to as chytrids, can be virulent parasites with the potential to inflict mass mortalities on hosts, causing e.g. changes in phytoplankton size distributions and succession, and the delay or suppression of bloom events. Molecular environmental surveys have revealed an unexpectedly large diversity of chytrids across a wide range of aquatic ecosystems worldwide. As a result, scientific interest towards fungal parasites of phytoplankton has been gaining momentum in the past few years. Yet, we still know little about the ecology of chytrids, their life cycles, phylogeny, host specificity and range. Information on the contribution of chytrids to trophic interactions, as well as co-evolutionary feedbacks of fungal parasitism on host populations is also limited. This paper synthesizes ideas stressing the multifaceted biological relevance of phytoplankton chytridiomycosis, resulting from discussions among an international team of chytrid researchers. It presents our view on the most pressing research needs for promoting the integration of chytrid fungi into aquatic ecology. Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.13827 SN - 1462-2912 SN - 1462-2920 VL - 19 SP - 3802 EP - 3822 PB - Wiley CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rojas-Jimenez, Keilor A1 - Wurzbacher, Christian A1 - Bourne, Elizabeth Charlotte A1 - Chiuchiolo, Amy A1 - Priscu, John C. A1 - Grossart, Hans-Peter T1 - Early diverging lineages within Cryptomycota and Chytridiomycota dominate the fungal communities in ice-covered lakes of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica JF - Scientific reports N2 - Antarctic ice-covered lakes are exceptional sites for studying the ecology of aquatic fungi under conditions of minimal human disturbance. In this study, we explored the diversity and community composition of fungi in five permanently covered lake basins located in the Taylor and Miers Valleys of Antarctica. Based on analysis of the 18S rRNA sequences, we showed that fungal taxa represented between 0.93% and 60.32% of the eukaryotic sequences. Cryptomycota and Chytridiomycota dominated the fungal communities in all lakes; however, members of Ascomycota, Basidiomycota, Zygomycota, and Blastocladiomycota were also present. Of the 1313 fungal OTUs identified, the two most abundant, belonging to LKM11 and Chytridiaceae, comprised 74% of the sequences. Significant differences in the community structure were determined among lakes, water depths, habitat features (i.e., brackish vs. freshwaters), and nucleic acids (DNA vs. RNA), suggesting niche differentiation. Network analysis suggested the existence of strong relationships among specific fungal phylotypes as well as between fungi and other eukaryotes. This study sheds light on the biology and ecology of basal fungi in aquatic systems. To our knowledge, this is the first report showing the predominance of early diverging lineages of fungi in pristine limnetic ecosystems, particularly of the enigmatic phylum Cryptomycota. Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-15598-w SN - 2045-2322 VL - 7 PB - Nature Publ. Group CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Wurzbacher, Christian A1 - Warthmann, Norman A1 - Bourne, Elizabeth Charlotte A1 - Attermeyer, Katrin A1 - Allgaier, Martin A1 - Powell, Jeff R. A1 - Detering, Harald A1 - Mbedi, Susan A1 - Großart, Hans-Peter A1 - Monaghan, Michael T. T1 - High habitat-specificity in fungal communities in oligo-mesotrophic, temperate Lake Stechlin (North-East Germany) JF - MycoKeys N2 - Freshwater fungi are a poorly studied ecological group that includes a high taxonomic diversity. Most studies on aquatic fungal diversity have focused on single habitats, thus the linkage between habitat heterogeneity and fungal diversity remains largely unexplored. We took 216 samples from 54 locations representing eight different habitats in the meso-oligotrophic, temperate Lake Stechlin in North-East Germany. These included the pelagic and littoral water column, sediments, and biotic substrates. We performed high throughput sequencing using the Roche 454 platform, employing a universal eukaryotic marker region within the large ribosomal subunit (LSU) to compare fungal diversity, community structure, and species turnover among habitats. Our analysis recovered 1027 fungal OTUs (97% sequence similarity). Richness estimates were highest in the sediment, biofilms, and benthic samples (189-231 OTUs), intermediate in water samples (42-85 OTUs), and lowest in plankton samples (8 OTUs). NMDS grouped the eight studied habitats into six clusters, indicating that community composition was strongly influenced by turnover among habitats. Fungal communities exhibited changes at the phylum and order levels along three different substrate categories from littoral to pelagic habitats. The large majority of OTUs (> 75%) could not be classified below the order level due to the lack of aquatic fungal entries in public sequence databases. Our study provides a first estimate of lake-wide fungal diversity and highlights the important contribution of habitat heterogeneity to overall diversity and community composition. Habitat diversity should be considered in any sampling strategy aiming to assess the fungal diversity of a water body. KW - Freshwater fungi KW - aquatic fungi KW - metabarcoding KW - LSU KW - GMYC KW - habitat specificity KW - Chytridiomycota KW - Cryptomycota KW - Rozellomycota KW - community ecology KW - lake ecosystem KW - biofilm KW - sediment KW - plankton KW - water sample KW - benthos KW - reed KW - fungal diversity Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3897/mycokeys.16.9646 SN - 1314-4057 SN - 1314-4049 VL - 41 SP - 17 EP - 44 PB - Pensoft Publ. CY - Sofia ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Großart, Hans-Peter A1 - Wurzbacher, Christian A1 - James, Timothy Y. A1 - Kagami, Maiko T1 - Discovery of dark matter fungi in aquatic ecosystems demands a reappraisal of the phylogeny and ecology of zoosporic fungi JF - Fungal ecology N2 - Our knowledge of zoosporic fungal phylogeny, physiology, and ecological functions, in particular their role in aquatic food web dynamics and biogeochemistry, is limited. The recent discovery of numerous dark matter fungi (DMF), i.e., uncultured and poorly known taxa belonging to early diverging branches of the fungal tree (namely the Rozellomycota and Chytridiomycota) calls for reconsideration of the phylogeny and ecology of zoosporic fungi. In this opinion paper, we summarize the exploration of new, recently discovered lineages of DMF and their implications for the ecology, evolution, and biogeography of the rapidly growing fungal tree. We also discuss possible ecological roles of zoosporic fungi in relation to recent methodological developments including single cell genomics and cultivation efforts. Finally, we suggest linking explorative with experimental research to gain deeper insights into the physiology and ecological functioning of zoosporic fungi DMF in aquatic habitats. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd and The British Mycological Society. All rights reserved. KW - Dark matter fungi KW - Zoosporic fungi KW - Fungal tree KW - Chytridiomycota KW - Rozellomycota KW - Fungal physiology and ecology KW - Aquatic habitats Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.funeco.2015.06.004 SN - 1754-5048 SN - 1878-0083 VL - 19 SP - 28 EP - 38 PB - Elsevier CY - Oxford ER - TY - GEN A1 - Rojas-Jimenez, Keilor A1 - Rieck, Angelika A1 - Wurzbacher, Christian A1 - Jürgens, Klaus A1 - Labrenz, Matthias A1 - Grossart, Hans-Peter T1 - A Salinity Threshold Separating Fungal Communities in the Baltic Sea T2 - Postprints der Universität Potsdam Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe N2 - Salinity is a significant factor for structuring microbial communities, but little is known for aquatic fungi, particularly in the pelagic zone of brackish ecosystems. In this study, we explored the diversity and composition of fungal communities following a progressive salinity decline (from 34 to 3 PSU) along three transects of ca. 2000 km in the Baltic Sea, the world’s largest estuary. Based on 18S rRNA gene sequence analysis, we detected clear changes in fungal community composition along the salinity gradient and found significant differences in composition of fungal communities established above and below a critical value of 8 PSU. At salinities below this threshold, fungal communities resembled those from freshwater environments, with a greater abundance of Chytridiomycota, particularly of the orders Rhizophydiales, Lobulomycetales, and Gromochytriales. At salinities above 8 PSU, communities were more similar to those from marine environments and, depending on the season, were dominated by a strain of the LKM11 group (Cryptomycota) or by members of Ascomycota and Basidiomycota. Our results highlight salinity as an important environmental driver also for pelagic fungi, and thus should be taken into account to better understand fungal diversity and ecological function in the aquatic realm. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 739 KW - fungal diversity KW - baltic sea KW - salinity gradient KW - brackish waters KW - chytridiomycota KW - cryptomycota Y1 - 1019 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-434937 SN - 1866-8372 IS - 739 ER -