Novel chytrid lineages dominate fungal sequences in diverse marine and freshwater habitats
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Date
2016-07-22
Authors
Comeau, Andre M.
Vincent, Warwick F.
Bernier, Louis
Lovejoy, Connie
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Springer Nature
Abstract
In aquatic environments, fungal communities remain little studied despite their taxonomic and
functional diversity. To extend the ecological coverage of this group, we conducted an in-depth analysis
of fungal sequences within our collection of 3.6 million V4 18S rRNA pyrosequences originating from
319 individual marine (including sea-ice) and freshwater samples from libraries generated within diverse
projects studying Arctic and temperate biomes in the past decade. Among the ~1.7 million post-filtered
reads of highest taxonomic and phylogenetic quality, 23,263 fungal sequences were identified. The
overall mean proportion was 1.35%, but with large variability; for example, from 0.01 to 59% of total
sequences for Arctic seawater samples. Almost all sample types were dominated by Chytridiomycotalike
sequences, followed by moderate-to-minor contributions of Ascomycota, Cryptomycota and
Basidiomycota. Species and/or strain richness was high, with many novel sequences and high niche
separation. The affinity of the most common reads to phytoplankton parasites suggests that aquatic
fungi deserve renewed attention for their role in algal succession and carbon cycling.
Description
Keywords
Chytrid, Fungal, freshwater, marine
Citation
Comeau, André M. et al. Novel chytrid lineages dominate fungal sequences in diverse marine and freshwater habitats. Sci. Rep. 6, 30120; doi: 10.1038/srep30120 (2016).