Depth-related differences in archaeal populations impact the isoprenoid tetraether lipid composition of the Mediterranean Sea water column

Marc A. Besseling; Ellen C. Hopmans; Michel Koenen; Marcel T.J. van der Meer; S. Vreugdenhil; Stefan Schouten; Jaap S. Sinninghe Damsté; L. Villanueva

doi:10.1016/j.orggeochem.2019.06.008

Depth-related differences in archaeal populations impact the isoprenoid tetraether lipid composition of the Mediterranean Sea water column

Marc A. Besseling^*, Ellen C. Hopmans, Michel Koenen, Marcel T.J. van der Meer, S. Vreugdenhil, Stefan Schouten, Jaap S. Sinninghe Damsté, L. Villanueva

^*Corresponding author for this work

Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research - NIOZ

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Thaumarchaeota are one of the most abundant groups of Archaea in the marine water column. Their membrane consists of isoprenoid glycerol dibiphytanyl glycerol tetraethers (GDGTs) which are applied in the widely used TEX₈₆ proxy to reconstruct past sea surface temperatures (SSTs). However, in some specific marine systems, such as the Mediterranean Sea, core-top TEX₈₆-derived temperatures do not seem to reflect annual mean SSTs. This has been attributed to contributions of deep-water dwelling Thaumarchaeota. Here, we investigate the potential causes of this bias by studying both the archaeal diversity as well as the intact polar lipid (IPL) GDGT composition in the Mediterranean water column by a combined 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing and a lipidomic approach on suspended particulate matter (SPM) at different water depths. The archaeal distribution showed a dominance of archaea other than Thaumarchaeota, i.e. Marine Euryarchaeota group II and III in the upper epipelagic waters (0–100 m deep), while Thaumarchaeota (Marine group I; MGI) dominated the subsurface and the deeper waters. This shift in the archaeal community composition coincided with a decrease in IPL GDGT-0 and increase of IPL crenarchaeol. The ratio of GDGT-2/GDGT-3 increased with water depth, but values were lower than observed in deep marine waters of some other regions. The increase of the GDGT-2/GDGT-3 ratio coincided with the high relative abundance of deep-water MGI, which may be linked to the high temperature and salinity found in specific water masses of the Mediterranean Sea. We conclude that these particularities of the Mediterranean Sea are responsible for the overestimated SST based on TEX_86.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	16-31
Number of pages	16
Journal	Organic Geochemistry
Volume	135
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orggeochem.2019.06.008
Publication status	Published - Sept 2019

Funding

We acknowledge the cruise leader, captain, crew, and participants of NESSC cruises 64PE406 and 64PE407 for sampling and technical support. Elda Panoto is acknowledged for technical support and NIOZ for the PhD grant for MAB to LV. This research was further supported by the NESSC and SIAM Gravitation Grants ( 024.002.001 and 024.002.002 ) from the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science (OCW), the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement no. 694569 – MICROLIPIDS) to JSSD and the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) (Middelgroot grant no. 834.13.004 ) to ECH. We thank the reviewers for their helpful comments. Appendix A

Keywords

Archaea
Isoprenoid GDGTs
Marine Euryarchaeota group II
Mediterranean Sea
Paleothermometer
TEX
Thaumarchaeota

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10.1016/j.orggeochem.2019.06.008

Depth-related differences in archael populationsFinal published version, 2.8 MBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

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Besseling, M. A., Hopmans, E. C., Koenen, M., van der Meer, M. T. J., Vreugdenhil, S., Schouten, S., Sinninghe Damsté, J. S., & Villanueva, L. (2019). Depth-related differences in archaeal populations impact the isoprenoid tetraether lipid composition of the Mediterranean Sea water column. Organic Geochemistry, 135, 16-31. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orggeochem.2019.06.008

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title = "Depth-related differences in archaeal populations impact the isoprenoid tetraether lipid composition of the Mediterranean Sea water column",

abstract = "Thaumarchaeota are one of the most abundant groups of Archaea in the marine water column. Their membrane consists of isoprenoid glycerol dibiphytanyl glycerol tetraethers (GDGTs) which are applied in the widely used TEX86 proxy to reconstruct past sea surface temperatures (SSTs). However, in some specific marine systems, such as the Mediterranean Sea, core-top TEX86-derived temperatures do not seem to reflect annual mean SSTs. This has been attributed to contributions of deep-water dwelling Thaumarchaeota. Here, we investigate the potential causes of this bias by studying both the archaeal diversity as well as the intact polar lipid (IPL) GDGT composition in the Mediterranean water column by a combined 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing and a lipidomic approach on suspended particulate matter (SPM) at different water depths. The archaeal distribution showed a dominance of archaea other than Thaumarchaeota, i.e. Marine Euryarchaeota group II and III in the upper epipelagic waters (0–100 m deep), while Thaumarchaeota (Marine group I; MGI) dominated the subsurface and the deeper waters. This shift in the archaeal community composition coincided with a decrease in IPL GDGT-0 and increase of IPL crenarchaeol. The ratio of GDGT-2/GDGT-3 increased with water depth, but values were lower than observed in deep marine waters of some other regions. The increase of the GDGT-2/GDGT-3 ratio coincided with the high relative abundance of deep-water MGI, which may be linked to the high temperature and salinity found in specific water masses of the Mediterranean Sea. We conclude that these particularities of the Mediterranean Sea are responsible for the overestimated SST based on TEX86. ",

keywords = "Archaea, Isoprenoid GDGTs, Marine Euryarchaeota group II, Mediterranean Sea, Paleothermometer, TEX, Thaumarchaeota",

author = "Besseling, {Marc A.} and Hopmans, {Ellen C.} and Michel Koenen and {van der Meer}, {Marcel T.J.} and S. Vreugdenhil and Stefan Schouten and {Sinninghe Damst{\'e}}, {Jaap S.} and L. Villanueva",

year = "2019",

month = sep,

doi = "10.1016/j.orggeochem.2019.06.008",

language = "English",

volume = "135",

pages = "16--31",

journal = "Organic Geochemistry",

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T1 - Depth-related differences in archaeal populations impact the isoprenoid tetraether lipid composition of the Mediterranean Sea water column

AU - Besseling, Marc A.

AU - Hopmans, Ellen C.

AU - Koenen, Michel

AU - van der Meer, Marcel T.J.

AU - Vreugdenhil, S.

AU - Schouten, Stefan

AU - Sinninghe Damsté, Jaap S.

AU - Villanueva, L.

PY - 2019/9

Y1 - 2019/9

N2 - Thaumarchaeota are one of the most abundant groups of Archaea in the marine water column. Their membrane consists of isoprenoid glycerol dibiphytanyl glycerol tetraethers (GDGTs) which are applied in the widely used TEX86 proxy to reconstruct past sea surface temperatures (SSTs). However, in some specific marine systems, such as the Mediterranean Sea, core-top TEX86-derived temperatures do not seem to reflect annual mean SSTs. This has been attributed to contributions of deep-water dwelling Thaumarchaeota. Here, we investigate the potential causes of this bias by studying both the archaeal diversity as well as the intact polar lipid (IPL) GDGT composition in the Mediterranean water column by a combined 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing and a lipidomic approach on suspended particulate matter (SPM) at different water depths. The archaeal distribution showed a dominance of archaea other than Thaumarchaeota, i.e. Marine Euryarchaeota group II and III in the upper epipelagic waters (0–100 m deep), while Thaumarchaeota (Marine group I; MGI) dominated the subsurface and the deeper waters. This shift in the archaeal community composition coincided with a decrease in IPL GDGT-0 and increase of IPL crenarchaeol. The ratio of GDGT-2/GDGT-3 increased with water depth, but values were lower than observed in deep marine waters of some other regions. The increase of the GDGT-2/GDGT-3 ratio coincided with the high relative abundance of deep-water MGI, which may be linked to the high temperature and salinity found in specific water masses of the Mediterranean Sea. We conclude that these particularities of the Mediterranean Sea are responsible for the overestimated SST based on TEX86.

AB - Thaumarchaeota are one of the most abundant groups of Archaea in the marine water column. Their membrane consists of isoprenoid glycerol dibiphytanyl glycerol tetraethers (GDGTs) which are applied in the widely used TEX86 proxy to reconstruct past sea surface temperatures (SSTs). However, in some specific marine systems, such as the Mediterranean Sea, core-top TEX86-derived temperatures do not seem to reflect annual mean SSTs. This has been attributed to contributions of deep-water dwelling Thaumarchaeota. Here, we investigate the potential causes of this bias by studying both the archaeal diversity as well as the intact polar lipid (IPL) GDGT composition in the Mediterranean water column by a combined 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing and a lipidomic approach on suspended particulate matter (SPM) at different water depths. The archaeal distribution showed a dominance of archaea other than Thaumarchaeota, i.e. Marine Euryarchaeota group II and III in the upper epipelagic waters (0–100 m deep), while Thaumarchaeota (Marine group I; MGI) dominated the subsurface and the deeper waters. This shift in the archaeal community composition coincided with a decrease in IPL GDGT-0 and increase of IPL crenarchaeol. The ratio of GDGT-2/GDGT-3 increased with water depth, but values were lower than observed in deep marine waters of some other regions. The increase of the GDGT-2/GDGT-3 ratio coincided with the high relative abundance of deep-water MGI, which may be linked to the high temperature and salinity found in specific water masses of the Mediterranean Sea. We conclude that these particularities of the Mediterranean Sea are responsible for the overestimated SST based on TEX86.

KW - Archaea

KW - Isoprenoid GDGTs

KW - Marine Euryarchaeota group II

KW - Mediterranean Sea

KW - Paleothermometer

KW - TEX

KW - Thaumarchaeota

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U2 - 10.1016/j.orggeochem.2019.06.008

DO - 10.1016/j.orggeochem.2019.06.008

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85068204894

SN - 0146-6380

VL - 135

SP - 16

EP - 31

JO - Organic Geochemistry

JF - Organic Geochemistry

ER -

Depth-related differences in archaeal populations impact the isoprenoid tetraether lipid composition of the Mediterranean Sea water column

Abstract

Funding

Keywords

UN SDGs

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