ParAquaSeq, a Database of Ecologically Annotated rRNA Sequences Covering Zoosporic Parasites Infecting Aquatic Primary Producers in Natural and Industrial Systems

20 pages, 5 figures, 1 table.-- Data Availability Statement: All datasets generated can be accessed in GitHub, https://github.com/ParAqua-COST/ParAquaSeq_Repository, including sequence files, metadata, explanatory documents, and scripts used to access the information. All datasets follow FAIR principles, and they are stored at Zenodo under the DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14851382 (Van den Wyngaert et al. 2024)

Amplicon sequencing tools such as metabarcoding are commonly used for thorough characterisation of microbial diversity in natural samples. They mostly rely on the amplification of conserved universal markers, mainly ribosomal genes, allowing the taxonomic assignment of barcodes. However, linking taxonomic classification with functional traits is not straightforward and requires knowledge of each taxonomic group to confidently assign taxa to a given functional trait. Zoosporic parasites are highly diverse and yet understudied, with many undescribed species and host associations. However, they can have important impacts on host populations in natural ecosystems (e.g., controlling harmful algal blooms), as well as on industrial-scale algae production, e.g. aquaculture, causing their collapse or economic losses. Here, we present ParAquaSeq, a curated database of available molecular ribosomal sequences belonging to zoosporic parasites infecting aquatic vascular plants, macroalgae and photosynthetic microorganisms, i.e. microalgae and cyanobacteria. These sequences are aligned with ancillary data and other information currently available, including details on their hosts, occurrence, culture availability and associated bibliography. The database includes 1131 curated sequences from marine, freshwater and industrial or artificial environments, and belonging to 13 different taxonomic groups, including Chytridiomycota, Oomycota, Phytomyxea, and Syndiniophyceae. The curated database will allow a comprehensive analysis of zoosporic parasites in molecular datasets to answer questions related to their occurrence and distribution in natural communities. Especially through meta-analysis, the database serves as a valuable tool for developing effective mitigation and sustainable management strategies in the algae biomass industry, but it will also help to identify knowledge gaps for future research

A.R. acknowledges the institutional support of the grant ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2019-000928-S) funded by AEI 10.13039/501100011033. S.V.W was supported by the Research Council of Finland (Decision Numbers 340659 and 346387). I.T. and M.S. were supported by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia (Grant no. 451-03-66/2024-03/200178). A.T. has been supported by the project “LifeWatchPLUS” of the “Programma Operativo Nazionale (PON) Ricerca e Innovazione 2014-2020 - Azione II, potenziamento di Infrastrutture di Ricerca” of the Italian Ministry of University and Research. B.S. was supported by the Icelandic Research Fund in the frame of the project “Per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) meet Arctic and sub-Arctic marine diatoms and their associated symbionts” (RANNIS ID: 239548-051). H.-P.G. received funding by the German Science Foundation (DFG) through the projects MostFun (GR1540/51-1), FUNACTION (GR1540/47-1), and Polar Parasites (GR1540/33-1 and GR1540/48-1). G.B.S was supported by the National Laboratory for Water Science and Water Security program (RRF-2.3.1-21-2022-00008) and NKFIH KKP 144068. S.N. received funding by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) Y0801-B16. L.G. received fundings by the Ministry of Universities and Research (Italy) through the Biodiversa+ secretariat, co-funded by the European Commission, projects FUNACTION (GA no. 101052342) and MostFun, and with the funding organisations Ministry of Universities and Research (Italy), and the European Commission—NextGenerationEU, Project “Strengthening the MIRRI Italian Research Infrastructure for Sustainable Bioscience and Bioeconomy”, code n. IR0000005. D.S.S. received funding through the projects GloMEc (AXA Research Fund), FishME (ANR-21-BIRE-0002-01), and OneAquaHealth (EC-Project 101086521). N.T. was funded by the Spanish MICINN Project SMART PID2020-112978GB-I00

Peer reviewed