Genomic evidence for global ocean plankton biogeography shaped by large-scale current systems

Daniel Richter , Romain Watteaux , Thomas Vannier , Jade Leconte (1) , Paul Frémont , Gabriel Reygondeau , Nicolas Maillet , Nicolas Henry , Gaëtan Benoit , Ophélie Da Silva , Tom Delmont , Antonio Fernàndez-Guerra , Samir Suweis , Romain Narci , Cédric Berney , Damien Eveillard (2, 3) , Frederick Gavory , Lionel Guidi , Karine Labadie , Eric Mahieu , Julie Poulain , Sarah Romac (1) , Simon Roux , Céline Dimier , Stefanie Kandels , Marc Picheral , Sarah Searson , Stéphane Pesant , Jean-Marc Aury (4, 5) , Jennifer Brum , Claire Lemaitre , Eric Pelletier , Peer Bork , Shinichi Sunagawa , Fabien Lombard , Lee Karp-Boss , Chris Bowler , Matthew Sullivan , Eric Karsenti , Mahendra Mariadassou , Ian Probert , Pierre Peterlongo , Patrick Wincker (4) , Colomban de Vargas (1) , Maurizio Ribera D’alcalà , Daniele Iudicone , Olivier Jaillon

1 ADMM - Adaptation et diversité en milieu marin
2 LS2N - Laboratoire des Sciences du Numérique de Nantes
3 LS2N - équipe COMBI - Combinatoire et Bioinformatique
4 UMR 8030 - Génomique métabolique
5 LBGB - Laboratoire de Bioinformatique pour la Génomique et la Biodiversité

Abstract Biogeographical studies have traditionally focused on readily visible organisms, but recent technological advances are enabling analyses of the large-scale distribution of microscopic organisms, whose biogeographical patterns have long been debated. Here we assessed the global structure of plankton geography and its relation to the biological, chemical and physical context of the ocean (the ‘seascape’) by analyzing metagenomes of plankton communities sampled across oceans during the Tara Oceans expedition, in light of environmental data and ocean current transport. Using a consistent approach across organismal sizes that provides unprecedented resolution to measure changes in genomic composition between communities, we report a pan-ocean, size-dependent plankton biogeography overlying regional heterogeneity. We found robust evidence for a basin-scale impact of transport by ocean currents on plankton biogeography, and on a characteristic timescale of community dynamics going beyond simple seasonality or life history transitions of plankton.

Domains: Environmental Sciences

Daniel Richter, Romain Watteaux, Thomas Vannier, Jade Leconte, Paul Frémont, et al.. Genomic evidence for global ocean plankton biogeography shaped by large-scale current systems. 2023. ⟨hal-02399723v1⟩