Hg-Planktarctic - Unravelling the metabolic adaptations in phytoplankton continuously exposed to volcanic-mercury in Deception Island waters (Antarctica)
Bernardo
Duarte1,
Carlos
Cordeiro2,
Marta
Sousa Silva2,
Andreia
Figueiredo3,
Rui
Rosa1,
João
Canário4,
Isabel
Caçador1,
João
C.
Marques1,
Maria Teresa
Cabrita5, 6,
Ana Rita
Matos3 and
Carla
L.
Gameiro1, 6
-
1
Centro de Ciências do Mar e do Ambiente (MARE), Portugal
-
2
FT-ICR-Lisboa – Laboratório de FT-ICR e Espectrometria de Massa Estrutural, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal
-
3
Instituto de Biossistemas e Ciências Integrativas (BioISI), Portugal
-
4
Centro de Química Estrutural, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal
-
5
Instituto de Geografia e Ordenamento do Território, University of Lisbon, Portugal
-
6
Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera (IPMA), Portugal
Antarctica remote location and hostile environment makes it permanent human colonization unattractive, leaving this polar area relatively untouched. Nevertheless, recently some signs of anthropogenic pollution have been recently detected both due to the increasing touristic and scientific exploration activities on this continent and to anthropogenic contaminations from South America. Being an area with a high active volcanic activity, some additional natural sources of metals and metalloids, add an increased problem to this anthropogenic-driven contamination an increased problem. This is more evident for mercury (Hg). Samples collected from Deception Island volcano, confirmed the existence of natural volcanic Hg emissions, comparable to the ones found in other areas of the globe, such as Iceland and Hawaii. One of the naturally contaminated areas with some of the highest Hg concentrations in waters and sediments is Deception Island, located in the South Shetland Islands archipelago. Hence, Deception Island, is an ideal field laboratory to investigate the physiological adaptations driven from chronic Hg exposure at the community level. Deception Island volcanic vents lead to a continuous chronic exposure of the phytoplankton community to potentially toxic Hg concentrations. Samples collected from Hg-contaminated sites and from pristine areas revealed very similar communities in terms of phytoplankton assemblages, but with very distinct physiological profiles. At photochemical level, phytoplankton from Hg-contaminated sites seem to be more efficient processing sunlight , converting it more efficiently to chemical energy. Phytoplankton fatty acid profiles also revealed some adaptations pointing out to a lipid modulation of the cellular membranes and lipid storage. The application of deep metabolomic techniques allowed us to disentangle the processes behind these chronic adaptations. These features, are not observable in culture conditions even under Hg exposure, are signs of a metabolic adaptation, driven from chronic exposure and multigenerational evolution which allow these communities to maintain high levels of primary productivity even when submitted to unfavourable conditions, such as those prevailing in Deception Island.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank to the “Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT)” for funding the research in the Marine and Environmental Sciences Centre (MARE, UID/MAR/04292/2013) and in the Biosystems and Integrative Sciences Institute (BioISI, UID/MULTI/04046/2013). BD investigation was supported by FCT throughout a Postdoctoral grant (SFRH/BPD/115162/2016). The authors would also like to thank to the PROPOLAR program (FCT funded) through the Hg-Planktartic project.
Keywords:
Antarctica,
Phytoplankton,
Photochemistry,
Mercury,
Toxicity,
Metabolomics/Metabolite Profiling,
Fatty Acids
Conference:
IMMR'18 | International Meeting on Marine Research 2018, Peniche, Portugal, 5 Jul - 6 Jul, 2018.
Presentation Type:
Oral Presentation
Topic:
Biodiversity, Conservation and Coastal Management
Citation:
Duarte
B,
Cordeiro
C,
Sousa Silva
M,
Figueiredo
A,
Rosa
R,
Canário
J,
Caçador
I,
Marques
JC,
Cabrita
M,
Matos
A and
Gameiro
CL
(2019). Hg-Planktarctic - Unravelling the metabolic adaptations in phytoplankton continuously exposed to volcanic-mercury in Deception Island waters (Antarctica).
Front. Mar. Sci.
Conference Abstract:
IMMR'18 | International Meeting on Marine Research 2018.
doi: 10.3389/conf.FMARS.2018.06.00033
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Received:
29 Mar 2018;
Published Online:
07 Jan 2019.