Peng Jin: School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, China.
Zhe Liang: School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, China.
Hua Lu: School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, China.
Jinmei Pan: School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, China.
Peiyuan Li: School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, China.
Quanting Huang: School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, China.
Yingyan Guo: School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, China.
Jiahui Zhong: School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, China.
Futian Li: Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Marine Bioresources and Environment, Jiangsu Ocean University, Lianyungang, China.
Jiaofeng Wan: School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, China.
Sebastian Overmans: King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering Division (BESE), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.
Jianrong Xia: School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou, China.
Ocean acidification is recognized as a major anthropogenic perturbation of the modern ocean. While extensive studies have been carried out to explore the short-term physiological responses of phytoplankton to ocean acidification, little is known about their lipidomic responses after a long-term ocean acidification adaptation. Here we perform the lipidomic analysis of a marine diatom following long-term (∼400 days) selection to ocean acidification conditions. We identified a total of 476 lipid metabolites in long-term high CO (i.e., ocean acidification condition) and low CO (i.e., ambient condition) selected cells. Our results further show that long-term high CO selection triggered substantial changes in lipid metabolites by down- and up-regulating 33 and 42 lipid metabolites. While monogalactosyldiacylglycerol (MGDG) was significantly down-regulated in the long-term high CO selected conditions, the majority (∼80%) of phosphatidylglycerol (PG) was up-regulated. The tightly coupled regulations (positively or negatively correlated) of significantly regulated lipid metabolites suggest that the lipid remodeling is an organismal adaptation strategy of marine diatoms to ongoing ocean acidification. Since the composition and content of lipids are crucial for marine food quality, and these changes can be transferred to high trophic levels, our results highlight the importance of determining the long-term adaptation of lipids in marine producers in predicting the ecological consequences of climate change.
