Genotype-specific transcriptional responses overshadow salinity effects in a marine diatom sampled along the Baltic Sea salinity cline

The salinity gradient separating marine and freshwater environments represents a major ecological divide for microbiota, yet the mechanisms by which marine microbes have adapted to and ultimately diversified in freshwater environments are poorly understood. Here, we take advantage of a natural evolutionary experiment: the colonization of the brackish Baltic Sea by the ancestrally marine diatom Skeletonema marinoi. To understand how diatoms respond to low salinity, we characterized transcriptomic responses of S. marinoi grown in a common garden. Our experiment included eight genotypes from source populations spanning the Baltic Sea salinity cline. Changes in gene expression revealed a shared response to salinity across genotypes, where low salinities induced profound changes in cellular metabolism, including upregulation of carbon fixation and storage compound biosynthesis, and increased nutrient demand and oxidative stress. Nevertheless, the genotype effect overshadowed the salinity effect, as genotypes differed significantly in their response, both in the magnitude and direction of gene expression. Intraspecific differences included regulation of transcription and translation, nitrogen metabolism, cell signaling, and aerobic respiration. The high degree of intraspecific variation in gene expression observed here highlights an important but often overlooked source of biological variation associated with how diatoms respond and adapt to environmental change.