The Trait Repertoire Enabling Cyanobacteria to Bloom Assessed through Comparative Genomic Complexity and Metatranscriptomics

Abstract

We pragmatically delineate the trait repertoire that enables organismal niche specialization. We based our approach on the tenet, derived from evolutionary and complex-system considerations, that genomic units that can significantly contribute to fitness in a certain habitat will be comparatively more complex in organisms specialized to that habitat than their genomic homologs found in organisms from other habitats. We tested this in cyanobacteria forming harmful water blooms, for which decades-long efforts in ecological physiology and genomics exist. Our results essentially confirm that genomics and ecology can be linked through comparative complexity analyses, providing a tool that should be of general applicability for any group of organisms and any habitat, and enabling the posing of grounded hypotheses regarding the ecogenomic basis for diversification.