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The Special and General Mechanism of Cyanobacterial Harmful Algal Blooms

Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (CyanoHABs) are longstanding aquatic hazards worldwide, of which the mechanism is not yet fully understood, i.e., the process in which cyanobacteria establish dominance over coexisting algae in the same eutrophic waters. The dominance of CyanoHABs represents a dev...

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Autores principales: Cheng, Wenduo, Hwang, Somin, Guo, Qisen, Qian, Leyuan, Liu, Weile, Yu, Yang, Liu, Li, Tao, Yi, Cao, Huansheng
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10144548/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37110410
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11040987
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author Cheng, Wenduo
Hwang, Somin
Guo, Qisen
Qian, Leyuan
Liu, Weile
Yu, Yang
Liu, Li
Tao, Yi
Cao, Huansheng
author_facet Cheng, Wenduo
Hwang, Somin
Guo, Qisen
Qian, Leyuan
Liu, Weile
Yu, Yang
Liu, Li
Tao, Yi
Cao, Huansheng
author_sort Cheng, Wenduo
collection PubMed
description Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (CyanoHABs) are longstanding aquatic hazards worldwide, of which the mechanism is not yet fully understood, i.e., the process in which cyanobacteria establish dominance over coexisting algae in the same eutrophic waters. The dominance of CyanoHABs represents a deviation from their low abundance under conventional evolution in the oligotrophic state, which has been the case since the origin of cyanobacteria on early Earth. To piece together a comprehensive mechanism of CyanoHABs, we revisit the origin and adaptive radiation of cyanobacteria in oligotrophic Earth, demonstrating ubiquitous adaptive radiation enabled by corresponding biological functions under various oligotrophic conditions. Next, we summarize the biological functions (ecophysiology) which drive CyanoHABs and ecological evidence to synthesize a working mechanism at the population level (the special mechanism) for CyanoHABs: CyanoHABs are the consequence of the synergistic interaction between superior cyanobacterial ecophysiology and elevated nutrients. Interestingly, these biological functions are not a result of positive selection by water eutrophication, but an adaptation to a longstanding oligotrophic state as all the genes in cyanobacteria are under strong negative selection. Last, to address the relative dominance of cyanobacteria over coexisting algae, we postulate a “general” mechanism of CyanoHABs at the community level from an energy and matter perspective: cyanobacteria are simpler life forms and thus have lower per capita nutrient demand for growth than coexisting eukaryotic algae. We prove this by comparing cyanobacteria and eukaryotic algae in cell size and structure, genome size, size of genome-scale metabolic networks, cell content, and finally the golden standard—field studies with nutrient supplementation in the same waters. To sum up, the comprehensive mechanism of CyanoHABs comprises a necessary condition, which is the general mechanism, and a sufficient condition, which is the special mechanism. One prominent prediction based on this tentative comprehensive mechanism is that eukaryotic algal blooms will coexist with or replace CyanoHABs if eutrophication continues and goes over the threshold nutrient levels for eukaryotic algae. This two-fold comprehensive mechanism awaits further theoretic and experimental testing and provides an important guide to control blooms of all algal species.
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spelling pubmed-101445482023-04-29 The Special and General Mechanism of Cyanobacterial Harmful Algal Blooms Cheng, Wenduo Hwang, Somin Guo, Qisen Qian, Leyuan Liu, Weile Yu, Yang Liu, Li Tao, Yi Cao, Huansheng Microorganisms Review Cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (CyanoHABs) are longstanding aquatic hazards worldwide, of which the mechanism is not yet fully understood, i.e., the process in which cyanobacteria establish dominance over coexisting algae in the same eutrophic waters. The dominance of CyanoHABs represents a deviation from their low abundance under conventional evolution in the oligotrophic state, which has been the case since the origin of cyanobacteria on early Earth. To piece together a comprehensive mechanism of CyanoHABs, we revisit the origin and adaptive radiation of cyanobacteria in oligotrophic Earth, demonstrating ubiquitous adaptive radiation enabled by corresponding biological functions under various oligotrophic conditions. Next, we summarize the biological functions (ecophysiology) which drive CyanoHABs and ecological evidence to synthesize a working mechanism at the population level (the special mechanism) for CyanoHABs: CyanoHABs are the consequence of the synergistic interaction between superior cyanobacterial ecophysiology and elevated nutrients. Interestingly, these biological functions are not a result of positive selection by water eutrophication, but an adaptation to a longstanding oligotrophic state as all the genes in cyanobacteria are under strong negative selection. Last, to address the relative dominance of cyanobacteria over coexisting algae, we postulate a “general” mechanism of CyanoHABs at the community level from an energy and matter perspective: cyanobacteria are simpler life forms and thus have lower per capita nutrient demand for growth than coexisting eukaryotic algae. We prove this by comparing cyanobacteria and eukaryotic algae in cell size and structure, genome size, size of genome-scale metabolic networks, cell content, and finally the golden standard—field studies with nutrient supplementation in the same waters. To sum up, the comprehensive mechanism of CyanoHABs comprises a necessary condition, which is the general mechanism, and a sufficient condition, which is the special mechanism. One prominent prediction based on this tentative comprehensive mechanism is that eukaryotic algal blooms will coexist with or replace CyanoHABs if eutrophication continues and goes over the threshold nutrient levels for eukaryotic algae. This two-fold comprehensive mechanism awaits further theoretic and experimental testing and provides an important guide to control blooms of all algal species. MDPI 2023-04-10 /pmc/articles/PMC10144548/ /pubmed/37110410 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11040987 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Cheng, Wenduo
Hwang, Somin
Guo, Qisen
Qian, Leyuan
Liu, Weile
Yu, Yang
Liu, Li
Tao, Yi
Cao, Huansheng
The Special and General Mechanism of Cyanobacterial Harmful Algal Blooms
title The Special and General Mechanism of Cyanobacterial Harmful Algal Blooms
title_full The Special and General Mechanism of Cyanobacterial Harmful Algal Blooms
title_fullStr The Special and General Mechanism of Cyanobacterial Harmful Algal Blooms
title_full_unstemmed The Special and General Mechanism of Cyanobacterial Harmful Algal Blooms
title_short The Special and General Mechanism of Cyanobacterial Harmful Algal Blooms
title_sort special and general mechanism of cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10144548/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37110410
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11040987
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