Water Mass Controlled Vertical Stratification of Bacterial and Archaeal Communities in the Western Arctic Ocean During Summer Sea-Ice Melting.

The environmental variations and their interactions with the biosphere are vital in the Arctic Ocean during the summer sea-ice melting period in the current scenario of climate change. Hence, we analysed the vertical distribution of bacterial and archaeal communities in the western Arctic Ocean from sea surface melt-ponds to deep water up to a 3040 m depth. The distribution of microbial communities showed a clear stratification with significant differences among different water depths, and the water masses in the Arctic Ocean - surface mixed layer, Atlantic water mass and deep Arctic water - appeared as a major factor explaining their distribution in the water column. A total of 34 bacterial phyla were detected in the seawater and 10 bacterial phyla in melt-ponds. Proteobacteria was the dominant phyla in the seawater irrespective of depth, whereas Bacteroidota was the dominant phyla in the melt-ponds. A fast expectation-maximization microbial source tracking analysis revealed that only limited dispersion of the bacterial community was possible across the stratified water column. The surface water mass contributed 21% of the microbial community to the deep chlorophyll maximum (DCM), while the DCM waters contributed only 3% of the microbial communities to the deeper water masses. Atlantic water mass contributed 37% to the microbial community of the deep Arctic water. Oligotrophic heterotrophic bacteria were dominant in the melt-ponds and surface waters, whereas chemoautotrophic and mixotrophic bacterial and archaeal communities were abundant in deeper waters. Chlorophyll and ammonium were the major environmental factors that determined the surface microbial communities, whereas inorganic nutrient concentrations controlled the deep-water communities.

Elucidating prioritized factor for mainstream partial nitritation between C/N ratio and dissolved oxygen: Response surface methodology and microbial community shifts.

Recently, C/N ratio is suggested as a promising control factor with dissolved oxygen (DO) achieving mainstream partial nitritation (PN); however, their combined effects on mainstream PN are still limited. This study evaluated the mainstream PN with respect to the combined factors, and investigated the prioritized factor affecting the community of aerobic functional microbes competing with NOB. Response surface methodology was performed to assess the combined effects of C/N ratio and DO on the activity of functional microbes. Aerobic heterotrophic bacteria (AHB) played the greatest role in oxygen competition among functional microbes, which resulted in relative inhibition of nitrite-oxidizing bacteria (NOB). The combination of high C/N ratio and low DO had a positive role in the relative inhibition of NOB. In bioreactor operation, the PN was successfully achieved at ≥ 1.5 of C/N ratio for 0.5-2.0 mg/L DO conditions. Interestingly, aerobic functional microbes outcompeting NOB were shifted with C/N ratio rather than DO, suggesting C/N ratio is more prioritized factor achieving mainstream PN. These findings will provide insights into how combined aerobic conditions contribute to achieve mainstream PN.

Salinity-controlled distribution of prokaryotic communities in the Arctic sea-ice melt ponds.

The thawing of snow and sea ice produces distinctive melt ponds on the surface of the Arctic sea ice, which covers a significant portion of the surface sea ice during summer. Melt-pond salinity impacts heat transfer to the ice below and the melting rate. It is widely known that melt ponds play a significant role in heat fluxes, ice-albedo feedback, and sea-ice energy balance. However, not much attention has been given to the fact that melt ponds also serve as a unique microbial ecosystem where microbial production begins as soon as they are formed. Here, we investigated the role of melt pond salinity in controlling the diversity and distribution of prokaryotic communities using culture-dependent and -independent approaches. The 16 S rRNA gene amplicon based next generation sequencing analysis retrieved a total of 14 bacterial phyla, consisting of 146 genera, in addition to two archaeal phyla. Further, the culture-dependent approaches of the study allowed for the isolation and identification of twenty-four bacterial genera in pure culture. Flavobacterium, Candidatus_Aquiluna, SAR11 clade, Polaribacter, Glaciecola, and Nonlabens were the dominant genera observed in the amplicon analysis. Whereas Actimicrobium, Rhodoglobus, Flavobacterium, and Pseudomonas were dominated in the culturable fraction. Our results also demonstrated that salinity, chlorophyll a, and dissolved organic carbon were the significant environmental variables controlling the prokaryotic community distribution in melt ponds. A significant community shift was observed in melt ponds when the salinity changed with the progression of melting and deepening of ponds. Different communities were found to be dominant in melt ponds with different salinity ranges. It was also observed that melt pond prokaryotic communities significantly differed from the surface ocean microbial community. Our observations suggest that complex prokaryotic communities develop in melt ponds immediately after its formation using dissolved organic carbon generated through primary production in the oligotrophic water.

Preventing Risks of Infections and Medication Errors in IV therapy (PRIME): a patient safety initiative.

BACKGROUND: Two major avoidable reasons for adverse events in hospital are medication errors and intravenous therapy-induced infections or complications. Training for clinical staff and compliance to patient safety principles could address these. METHODS: Joint Commission International (JCI) consultants created a standardised, 6-month training programme for clinical staff in hospitals. Twenty-one tertiary care hospitals from across south-east Asia took part. JCI trained the clinical consultants, who trained hospital safety champions, who trained nursing staff. Compliance and knowledge were assessed, and monthly audits were conducted. RESULTS: There was an overall increase of 29% in compliance with parameters around medication preparation and vascular access device management. CONCLUSION: The programme improved safe practice around preparing medications management and managing vascular access devices. The approach could be employed as a continuous quality improvement initiative for the prevention of medication errors and infusion-associated complications.

Phytoplankton growth rates in the Amundsen Sea (Antarctica) during summer: The role of light.

In the Amundsen Sea, significant global warming accelerates ice melt, and is consequently altering many ocean properties such as sea ice concentration, surface freshening, water column stratification, and underwater light properties. To examine the influence of light, which is one of the fundamental factors for phytoplankton growth, incubation experiments and field surveys were performed during the austral summer of 2016. In the incubation experiments, phytoplankton abundance and carbon biomass significantly increased with increasing light levels, probably indicating light limitation. Growth rates of the small pennates (mean 0.42 d-1) increased most rapidly with an increase in light, followed by those of Phaeocystis antarctica (0.31 d-1), and the large diatoms (0.16 d-1). A short-term study during the field survey showed that phytoplankton distribution in the surface layer was likely controlled by different responses to light and the sinking rate of each species. These results suggest that the approach adopted by previous studies of explaining phytoplankton ecology as a characteristic of two major taxa, namely diatoms and P. antarctica, in the coastal Antarctic waters might cause errors owing to oversimplification and misunderstanding, since diatoms comprise several species that have different ecophysiological characteristics.

Spatial dynamics of active microeukaryotes along a latitudinal gradient: Diversity, assembly process, and co-occurrence relationships.

Recent global warming is profoundly and increasingly influencing the Arctic ecosystem. Understanding how microeukaryote communities respond to changes in the Arctic Ocean is crucial for understanding their roles in the biogeochemical cycles of nutrients and elements. Between July 22 and August 19, 2016, during cruise ARA07, seawater samples were collected along a latitudinal transect extending from the East Sea of Korea to the central Arctic Ocean. Environmental RNA was extracted and the V4 hypervariable regions of the reverse transcribed SSU rRNA were amplified. The sequences generated by high throughput sequencing were clustered into zero-radius OTUs (ZOTUs), and the taxonomic identities of each ZOTU were assigned using SINTAX against the PR2 database. Thus, the diversity, community composition, and co-occurrence networks of size fractionated microeukaryotes were revealed. The present study found: 1) the alpha diversity of pico- and nano-sized microeukaryotes showed a latitudinal diversity gradient; 2) three distinct communities were identified, i.e., the Leg-A, Leg-B surface, and Leg-B subsurface chlorophyll a maximum (SCM) groups; 3) distinct network structure and composition were found in the three groups; and 4) water temperature was identified as the primary factor driving both the alpha and beta diversities of microeukaryotes. This study conducted a comprehensive and systematic survey of active microeukaryotes along a latitudinal gradient, elucidated the diversity, community composition, co-occurrence relationships, and community assembly processes among major microeukaryote assemblages, and will help shed more light on our understanding of the responses of microeukaryote communities to the changing Arctic Ocean.

Spatial distribution and origin of organic matters in an Arctic fjord system based on lipid biomarkers (n-alkanes and sterols).

The concentration of n-alkanes (C17-C35) and sterols in marine particulate matter were investigated to trace the origin of organic carbon in Kongsfjorden in early spring (April). The spatial distributions of environmental factors (seawater temperature, salinity, density, turbidity, chlorophyll a (chl. a) and particulate organic carbon (POC) concentrations) and the cell density of phytoplankton differed between the inner and outer fjord regions. In addition, brassicasterol, diatom biomarker, showed a high concentration in the outer fjord and positive correlations with the chl. a and POC concentrations in the water column. In contrast, some sterols originating from terrestrial organic matter (OM), such as stigmasterol and campesterol, showed relatively higher concentrations in the inner fjord than in the outer fjord. Based on the distance-based redundancy analysis (db-RDA) result, the distributions of organic compounds are predominantly controlled by the water density and the POC and chl. a concentrations, and these distributions allowed us to divide the inner and outer fjord regions. However, the hierarchical clustering of principal components (HCPC) results obtained based on principal component analysis (PCA) using lipid biomarkers (C17-C35 alkanes and sterols) and environmental factors indicated that the clusters were distinguished by surface (0 m) and subsurface (>4 m) seawater samples rather than by any regional division. Notably, the concentration of relatively short-chain alkanes (average chain length (ACL): 24.6 ± 3.7) without a carbon preference for odd numbers (carbon preference index (CPI): 0.97 ± 0.11) in the sea surface layer was significantly higher than that of subsurface seawater (ACL: 31.1 ± 0.5 and CPI: 1.06 ± 0.03) in the early spring. This suggests the potential of these compounds as indicators for tidewater glacier-derived OM and freshwater input by snow melt into the fjord system. Hence, these results demonstrate that the distributions of lipid biomarkers in the water column possibly provide important information for a comprehensive understanding of the origin and transport of OM in an Arctic fjord.

Women's attitudes toward certification logos, labels, and advertisements for organic disposable sanitary pads: results from a multi-city cross-sectional survey.

BACKGROUND: This cross-sectional study evaluated women's attitudes toward the certification logos, labels, and advertisements for organic disposable sanitary pads (OSPs) and investigated what could be the main reason for them. Additionally, the present study examined whether a relationship could be found between these attitudes and OSPs purchasing behavior. METHODS: This study was conducted using a self-reported online survey of Korean adult women who have purchased OSPs. The study questionnaire had four sections, covering (1) characteristics of OSP purchasing behavior, (2) attitudes toward OSP certification logos, labels, and advertisements, (3) demand on government and companies for proper management, and (4) respondent's sociodemographic information. The Cronbach's alpha value of the questionnaire was 0.857. RESULTS: A total of 500 respondents completed the questionnaire. Overall, high reliability was found for the certification logos (3.73 ± 0.61), labels on the product packaging (3.71 ± 0.63), and advertisements of OSPs (3.41 ± 0.62). Respondents indicated that these had fairly positive effects on their decision-making regarding product reliability, product image, and their own purchasing behavior. The aspects most frequently affected from the informants were safety to human health. All attitudes toward OSP certification logos, labels, and advertisements that were evaluated in this study became more positive in the direction from non-buyers to occasional buyers and to habitual buyers (all P < 0.05). The most significant demand from the respondents for OSP companies and the government was to clearly indicate hazardous ingredients on the OSP packaging (42.0%) and to strengthen the sanctions for false advertising (37.8%), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study clearly indicate the importance of using certification logos, labels, and advertisements in the OSP market. These results can be utilized by OSP companies to improve the effectiveness of their marketing strategies or by policy makers and certifying bodies to manage the informants properly in the OSP market.

Significant Underestimation of Gaseous Methanesulfonic Acid (MSA) over Southern Ocean.

Methanesulfonic acid (MSA), derived from the oxidation of dimethylsulfide (DMS), has a significant impact on biogenic sulfur cycle and climate. Gaseous MSA (MSAg) has been often ignored in previous studies due to its quick conversion to particulate MSA (MSAp) and low concentrations. MSAg, MSAp, and nss-SO42- were observed simultaneously for the first time with high-time-resolution (1 h) in the Southern Ocean (SO). The mean MSAg level reached up to 3.3 ± 1.6 pptv, ranging from ∼24.5 pptv in the SO, contributing to 31% ± 3% to the total MSA (MSAT). A reduction of the MSA to nss-SO42- ratios by about 30% was obtained when MSAg was not accounted for in the calculation, indicating that MSAg was very important in the assessment of the biogenic sulfur contributions in the atmosphere. Mass ratios of MSA to nss-SO42- increased first and then decreased with the temperature from -10 to 5 °C, with a maximum value at the temperature of -3 °C. Positive correlations between MSAg to MSAT ratios and temperature were presented, when the temperature was higher than 5 °C. This study highlights the importance of MSAg for understanding the atmospheric DMS oxidation mechanism and extends the knowledge of MSA formation in the marine atmosphere.

Direct night-time ejection of particle-phase reduced biogenic sulfur compounds from the ocean to the atmosphere.

The influence of oceanic biological activity on sea spray aerosol composition, clouds, and climate remains poorly understood. The emission of organic material and gaseous dimethyl sulfide (DMS) from the ocean represents well-documented biogenic processes that influence particle chemistry in marine environments. However, the direct emission of particle-phase biogenic sulfur from the ocean remains largely unexplored. Here we present measurements of ocean-derived particles containing reduced sulfur, detected as elemental sulfur ions (e.g., (32)S(+), (64)S2(+)), in seven different marine environments using real-time, single particle mass spectrometry; these particles have not been detected outside of the marine environment. These reduced sulfur compounds were associated with primary marine particle types and wind speeds typically between 5 and 10 m/s suggesting that these particles themselves are a primary emission. In studies with measurements of seawater properties, chlorophyll-a and atmospheric DMS concentrations were typically elevated in these same locations suggesting a biogenic source for these sulfur-containing particles. Interestingly, these sulfur-containing particles only appeared at night, likely due to rapid photochemical destruction during the daytime, and comprised up to ∼67% of the aerosol number fraction, particularly in the supermicrometer size range. These sulfur-containing particles were detected along the California coast, across the Pacific Ocean, and in the southern Indian Ocean suggesting that these particles represent a globally significant biogenic contribution to the marine aerosol burden.

Bio-inspired bending actuator for controlling conical nose shape using piezoelectric patches.

In this paper, a bio-inspired bending actuator was designed and fabricated using piezoelectric patches and cantilever-shaped beam for controlling nose shape. The aim of this study is to investigate the use of the bending actuator. PZT and single crystal PMN-PT actuators were used to generate translational strain and shear stress. The piezoelectric patches were attached on the clamped cantilever beam to convert their translational strains to bending motion of the beam. First, finite element analysis was performed to identify and to make an accurate estimate of the feasibility on the bending actuation by applying various voltages and frequencies. Based on the results of the FEM analysis, the experiments were also performed. Static voltages and dynamic voltages with various frequencies were applied to the bending actuators with PZTs and PMN-PTs, and the rotation angles of the nose connected to the top of bending actuators were measured, respectively. As the results, the bending actuator using PMN-PT patches showed better performances in all cases. With the increases of signal frequency and input voltage, the rotation angle also found to be increased. Especially at the frequency of 5 Hz and input voltage of 600 V, the nose generated the maximum rotation angle of 3.15 degree.

Aerobic and anoxic utilization of organic matter for flexible nitrite supply in nutrient conversion pathways based on anaerobic ammonium oxidation: Microbial interactive mechanism.

This study investigated nutrient conversion pathways and corresponding interactive mechanisms in a mainstream partial-nitritation (PN)/anaerobic ammonium oxidation (anammox)/partial-denitrification-(PD)-enhanced biological phosphorus-removal (EBPR) (PN/A/PD-EBPR) process. A laboratory-scale sequencing batch reactor was operated for 301 days under different operational strategies. Mainstream PN/A/PD-EBPR was successfully operated with aerobic and anoxic utilization of organic matter. Aerobic utilization of organic matter was an effective strategy for conversion to denitrifying polyphosphate-accumulating organism-based phosphorus removal, referring to a biological reaction that outperformed nitrite-oxidizing bacteria. Aerobically adsorbed organic matter could be used as a carbon source for PD, which further enhanced nitrogen removal by PN/A. Ultimately, the interaction between complex nutrient conversion pathways served to achieve stable performance. High-throughput sequencing results elucidated the core microbe functioning in the mainstream PN/A/PD-EBPR process with respect to various nutrients. The outcomes of this study will be beneficial to those attempting to implement mainstream PN/A/PD-EBPR.

Insight into the latitudinal gradient of biodiversity based on spatial variations in pelagic ciliate communities along the western Arctic Ocean.

The latitudinal dynamics of biodiversity has been the focus of global attention. This study is based on the latitude gradient of biodiversity in the spatial changes of pelagic ciliate communities in the western Arctic Ocean. The gradient pattern of pelagic ciliate communities across four latitudes were investigated from the water surface at 22 sampling station in the northern Bering Sea of the western Arctic Ocean and Chukchi Sea from August 5 to August 24, 2016. Based on multivariate analyses, the results showed that (1) the spatial patterns of pelagic ciliates represented a significant latitudinal gradient along the western Arctic Ocean; (2) the species number and abundance of pelagic ciliate communities declined from 64°N to 80°N; (3) variations in the horizontal distribution of ciliates were significantly correlated with changes in physicochemical variables, especially water temperature and Chl a; Thus it is suggested that the expected latitudinal decline of biodiversity was evident along the western Arctic Ocean.

The impact of assisted reproductive technologies on ADHD: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: The escalating utilization of assisted reproductive technology (ART) in response to global infertility rates has spurred research into its complications. Short-term and long-term outcomes have been extensively studied, particularly the neurological concerns surrounding attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) among ART-conceived children. This study aims investigate the association between ART and ADHD. METHODS: Medline, Embase, Scopus, and Web of Science databases were searched through April 4, 2023. Cohort, case-control, and cross-sectional studies were eligible for inclusion. primary summary measures included the unadjusted relative risk (RR) and adjusted hazard ratio (HR) with 95 % confidence intervals. Both fixed-effects and random-effects models were utilized for meta-analysis data pooling to determine the overall effect size. The onset of ADHD in children conceived through ART compared to those conceived naturally. RESULTS: The systematic search yielded 8 studies with 10,176,148 individuals included in the meta-analysis. The meta-analysis revealed a pooled RR of 0.93 (0.68-1.26) for cohort studies and a pooled RR of 0.97 (0.41-2.29) for cross-sectional studies, along with a pooled HR of 1.08 (1.03-1.13) for ADHD in the ART group compared to the non-ART group. CONCLUSION: While this study identifies some potential association between ART and ADHD, the limited effect size and inherent heterogeneity underscore the need for cautious interpretation.

Optimizing the industrial wastewater pretreatment by activated carbon and coagulation: effects of hydrophobicity/hydrophilicity and molecular weights of dissolved organics.

This study addresses industrial wastewater treatment to remove dissolved organic compounds (DOC) using Fenton and coagulation processes, followed by granular activated carbon (GAC), and powdered activated carbon (PAC) as a pretreatment before reverse osmosis (RO). The effects of the hydrophobic / hydrophilic fractions and the molecular weights (MW) of the organics on DOC removal were tested and used to optimize the combination process. The raw wastewater (RWW) had a dominant hydrophobic fraction, as determined by polymeric resins Amberlite XAD-4. High performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC/MS/MS) results showed that MW of organics were 256, 172, 258, 146, 392, 321, 182, 373, 276, 365, 409 and 453 in increasing order of hydrophobicity. GAC had higher adsorption capacity and was more selective for hydrophobic DOC removal than PAC. The removal efficiency of DOC by PAC and GAC was decreased after Fenton treatment, which decreased the hydrophobic fraction. Coagulation with ferric chloride efficiently removed the non-ionic hydrophilic and anionic hydrophilic organics. The coagulant doses selected as a pretreatment before GAC were 2.1 and 15.5 mg Fe(III)/mg DOC. The effluent total organic carbon (TOC) trends were correlated with the hydrophobic and hydrophilic fractions by using a rapid small-scale column test (RSSCT) for GAC breakthrough with a scale down factor of 5. GAC preferentially adsorbed the hydrophobic and the cationic hydrophilic organics. The effluent TOC trend could be divided into four stages: maximum adsorption, hydrophobic stage, exhaustion, and biological. The TOC removal after the exhaustion stage was almost equal to the hydrophilic fraction of TOC. Therefore these results demonstrated that the combination of coagulation and GAC adsorption was a highly efficient process for reducing DOC.

Chlortetracycline degradation by photocatalytic ozonation in the aqueous phase: mineralization and the effects on biodegradability.

Chlortetracycline (CTC) is a hazardous material in aquatic environments. This study was focused on optimization of photocatalytic ozonation processes for removal of CTC from wastewater at pH 2.2 and 7.0. In this study, the tested processes for CTC removal were arranged from the least efficient to the most efficient as: UV, UV/TiO2, O3, O3/UV and O3/UV/TiO2. Ozonation efficiency was due to ozone affinity for electron-rich sites on the CTC molecule. In the O3/UV and O3/UV/TiO2 processes, efficiency was increased by the photolysis of CTC and generation of *OH. At pH 7.0, all the processes were more efficient for CTC degradation than at pH 2.2 due to CTC speciation, ozone decay to *OH and the attractions between ionized CTC and TiO2 particles. UV/O3 at pH 7.0 showed an additive effect while other combination processes showed a synergistic effect that resulted in higher rates of reactions than the sums of individual reaction rates. The TOC removal ranged from 8% to 41% after one hour of reaction, with the above-mentioned order of efficiency. The biodegradability increased rapidly during the early minutes of the reaction. A reaction time of 10-15 min was sufficient for near maximum biodegradability, making these processes good pretreatments for the biological processes.

Mesophilic co-digestion of palm oil mill effluent and empty fruit bunches.

The palm oil mill industry generates palm oil mill effluent (POME) and empty fruit bunches (EFB) as by-products. This study reports the mesophilic co-digestion of POME with EFB. The biochemical methane potential (BMP) of POME and EFB was 0.397 L CH4/g volatile solids (VS) and 0.264 L CH4/g VS, respectively. In a series of batch tests at various EFB to POME ratios, the maximum methane production rate was achieved at an EFB:POME ratio of 0.25-0.31:1. Performance data from lab-scale digesters confirmed the positive synergism by the addition of EFB to POME, which was attributed to the balanced chemical composition, for example the chemical oxygen demand (COD) to total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN) ratio. The EFB addition enhanced the acceptable organic loading rate, methane production, COD removal, and microbial activity. The mesophilic co-digestion of POME and EFB promises to be a viable recycling method to alleviate pollution problems and recover renewable energy in the palm oil mill industry.

Odor reduction using hydrogen sulfide-removing bacteria in sludge filtration systems: Ferrous-oxidizing bacteria and sulfur-oxidizing bacteria.

The preconditioning of digested sludge in sludge filtration systems produces hydrogen sulfide (H2S), a major odor-causing source. This study evaluated the effects of adding H2S-removing bacteria to sludge-filtration systems. Ferrous-oxidizing bacteria (FOB) and sulfur-oxidizing bacteria (SOB) were mass-cultivated in a hybrid bioreactor equipped with an internal circulation system. In this bioreactor, FOB and SOB effectively removed >99% of H2S; however, the acidic conditions created by adding a coagulant during digested sludge preconditioning were more favorable for FOB than for SOB. In batch tests, SOB and FOB removed 94 ± 1.1% and 99 ± 0.1% of H2S, respectively; therefore, digested sludge preconditioning proved more suitable for FOB activity than SOB activity. The results revealed that the optimal FOB addition ratio was 0.2%, validated using a pilot filtration system. Moreover, the 57.5 ± 2.9 ppm H2S generated in the sludge preconditioning step was reduced to 0.01 ± 0.01 ppm after adding 0.2% FOB. Therefore, the results of this study will be useful because they provide a process for biologically removing odor-causing sources without affecting the dewatering efficiency of the filtration system.

RNA outperforms DNA-based metabarcoding in assessing the diversity and response of microeukaryotes to environmental variables in the Arctic Ocean.

The Arctic Ocean (AO) has a harsh environment characterized by low temperatures, extensive ice coverage, and periodic freezing and melting of sea ice, which has provided diverse habitats for microorganisms. Prior studies primarily focused on microeukaryote communities in the upper water or sea ice based on environmental DNA, leaving the composition of active microeukaryotes in the diverse AO environments largely unknown. This study provided a vertical assessment of microeukaryote communities in the AO from snow and ice to sea water at a depth of 1670 m using high-throughput sequencing of co-extracted DNA and RNA. RNA extracts depicted microeukaryote community structure and intergroup correlations more accurately and responded more sensitively to environmental conditions than those derived from DNA. Using RNA:DNA ratios as a proxy for relative activity of major taxonomic groups, the metabolic activities of major microeukaryote groups were determined along depth. Analysis of co-occurrence networks showed that parasitism between Syndiniales and dinoflagellates/ciliates in the deep ocean may be significant. This study increased our knowledge of the diversity of active microeukaryote communities and highlighted the importance of using RNA-based sequencing over DNA-based sequencing to examine the relationship between microeukaryote assemblages and the responses of microeukaryotes to environmental variables in the AO.

Transcriptomic Insights into Archaeal Nitrification in the Amundsen Sea Polynya, Antarctica.

Antarctic polynyas have the highest Southern Ocean summer primary productivity, and due to anthropogenic climate change, these areas have formed faster recently. Ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) are among the most ubiquitous and abundant microorganisms in the ocean and play a primary role in the global nitrogen cycle. We utilized metagenomics and metatranscriptomics to gain insights into the physiology and metabolism of AOA in polar oceans, which are associated with ecosystem functioning. A polar-specific ecotype of AOA, from the "Candidatus Nitrosomarinus"-like group, was observed to be dominant in the Amundsen Sea Polynya (ASP), West Antarctica, during a succession of summer phytoplankton blooms. AOA had the highest transcriptional activity among prokaryotes during the bloom decline phase (DC). Metatranscriptomic analysis of key genes involved in ammonia oxidation, carbon fixation, transport, and cell division indicated that this polar AOA ecotype was actively involved in nitrification in the bloom DC in the ASP. This study revealed the physiological and metabolic traits of this key polar-type AOA in response to phytoplankton blooms in the ASP and provided insights into AOA functions in polar oceans.