Ye, Naihao, Han, Wentao, Toseland, Andrew, Wang, Yitao, Fan, Xiao, Xu, Dong, van Oosterhout, Cock, Grigoriev, Igor V, Tagliabue, Alessandro 
ORCID: 0000-0002-3572-3634, Zhang, Jian et al (show 6 more authors)
(2022)
The role of zinc in the adaptive evolution of polar phytoplankton
NATURE ECOLOGY & EVOLUTION, 6 (7).
965-+.
ISSN 2397-334X, 2397-334X
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Text
Ye.pdf - Author Accepted Manuscript Download (12MB) | Preview |
Abstract
Zinc is an essential trace metal for oceanic primary producers with the highest concentrations in polar oceans. However, its role in the biological functioning and adaptive evolution of polar phytoplankton remains enigmatic. Here, we have applied a combination of evolutionary genomics, quantitative proteomics, co-expression analyses and cellular physiology to suggest that model polar phytoplankton species have a higher demand for zinc because of elevated cellular levels of zinc-binding proteins. We propose that adaptive expansion of regulatory zinc-finger protein families, co-expanded and co-expressed zinc-binding proteins families involved in photosynthesis and growth in these microalgal species and their natural communities were identified to be responsible for the higher zinc demand. The expression of their encoding genes in eukaryotic phytoplankton metatranscriptomes from pole-to-pole was identified to correlate not only with dissolved zinc concentrations in the upper ocean but also with temperature, suggesting that environmental conditions of polar oceans are responsible for an increased demand of zinc. These results suggest that zinc plays an important role in supporting photosynthetic growth in eukaryotic polar phytoplankton and that this has been critical for algal colonization of low-temperature polar oceans.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Sea of Change Consortium, Phytoplankton, Zinc, Temperature, Photosynthesis, Oceans and Seas |
| Divisions: | Faculty of Science & Engineering > School of Environmental Sciences |
| Depositing User: | Symplectic Admin |
| Date Deposited: | 21 Mar 2023 11:26 |
| Last Modified: | 22 May 2026 15:29 |
| DOI: | 10.1038/s41559-022-01750-x |
| Related Websites: | |
| URI: | https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3169185 |
| Disclaimer: | The University of Liverpool is not responsible for content contained on other websites from links within repository metadata. Please contact us if you notice anything that appears incorrect or inappropriate. |
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