Metabarcoding dissection of harmful algal bloom species in the East China Sea off Southern Zhejiang Province in late spring

Yang Chen; Qing Xu; Kate Gibson; Nansheng Chen

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.112586

Metabarcoding dissection of harmful algal bloom species in the East China Sea off Southern Zhejiang Province in late spring

Mar Pollut Bull. 2021 Aug:169:112586. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.112586. Epub 2021 Jun 8.

Authors

Yang Chen¹, Qing Xu², Kate Gibson³, Nansheng Chen⁴

Affiliations

¹ CAS Key Laboratory of Marine Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China; Laboratory of Marine Ecology and Environmental Science, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao 266200, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 10039, China; Center for Ocean Mega-Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China.
² CAS Key Laboratory of Marine Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China; Laboratory of Marine Ecology and Environmental Science, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao 266200, China; Center for Ocean Mega-Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China; College of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan 430070, China.
³ Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, British Columbia V5A 1S6, Canada.
⁴ CAS Key Laboratory of Marine Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China; Laboratory of Marine Ecology and Environmental Science, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao 266200, China; Center for Ocean Mega-Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China; Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, British Columbia V5A 1S6, Canada. Electronic address: chenn@qdio.ac.cn.

PMID: 34116370
DOI: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.112586

Abstract

The coastal region of the East China Sea (ECS) is a famous "hotspot" for harmful algal blooms (HABs) in China. We hypothesize that such frequent occurrences of diverse HABs in the ECS are determined by the presence of unique HAB species in this region. In this project, we identified 3966 amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) representing 35 classes in six protist phyla/divisions. Among the 237 annotated protist species, we identified 58 HAB species, of which 23 HAB species had never been previously reported in the ECS. Many HAB species also displayed unique spatial distribution patterns in the ECS. Notably, we identified three HAB species Prorocentrum donghaiense, Lebouridinium glaucum and Noctiluca scintillans in the site S05-1 with substantially elevated abundance, suggesting that this sampling site was experiencing a multiple-species HAB event. This study was the first attempt in applying ASV-based metabarcoding analysis in studying protist and HAB species in the ECS.

Keywords: Amplicon sequence variants (ASVs); East China Sea (ECS); Harmful algal bloom; Metabarcoding analysis.

MeSH terms

China
Dinoflagellida*
Dissection
Harmful Algal Bloom*
Seasons