Individuals within a species vary, and this variation can have important implications for the role a species may play within ecosystems. We compared the relative importance of variation within species due to genetic changes within its own genome versus symbiotic interactions between the focal species and its associated bacteria, also called their microbiome. We focused on Microcystis aeruginosa, a globally distributed photosynthetic cyanobacterium, also known as blue-green algae, that often dominates freshwater harmful algal blooms.

These blooms have recently become more common and intense worldwide, causing major economic and ecological damages. We studied Microcystis and their associated microbiomes from lakes in Michigan, USA that vary in phosphorus content, which is the primary limiting nutrient in lakes. We found genomic changes among strains of Microcystis along this phosphorus gradient that indicated increased efficiency in the use of phosphorus and nitrogen. Intriguingly, we found that genotypes adapted to different nutrient environments co-occurred in phosphorus‐rich lakes. This co-occurrence may have critical implications for understanding how Microcystis blooms persist for many months, long after nutrients become depleted within lakes. Similar to previous findings in for example the human microbiome, we uncovered that the bacteria comprising the microbiomes of Microcystis varied in community composition but were more stable at the level of functional contributions to their hosts across the phosphorus gradient. Finally, while our work was mostly focused on unraveling the genomic underpinnings of nutrient adaptation, we also observed consequences of these differences in Microcystis genome and microbiome composition at a physiological level. In particular, when nutrients were provided in abundance, Microcystis (and its microbiome) that had evolved to thrive in low-phosphorus environments could not grow as rapidly as strains from high-phosphorus environments.

– Sara Jackrel, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Michigan.

Read the full article here.

Citation: Jackrel, SL, White, JD, Evans, JT, et al. Genome evolution and host‐microbiome shifts correspond with intraspecific niche divergence within harmful algal bloom‐forming Microcystis aeruginosa. Mol Ecol. 2019; 28: 3994– 4011. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.15198