Environmental DNA metabarcoding of intertidal meiofauna sheds light on its potential for habitat discovery
Benthic meiofauna is a fundamental component of food webs and nutrient exchange of marine ecosystems. However, its diversity pattern and ecology of intertidal meiofauna remain poorly understood because the studies are often constrained by morphology-based species identification. Environmental DNA me...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2023-06-01
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| Series: | Ecological Indicators |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X23003655 |
| _version_ | 1827958073826738176 |
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| author | Meng Wang Timur Yergaliyev Changhai Sun Joey Genevieve Martinez Beixin Wang |
| author_facet | Meng Wang Timur Yergaliyev Changhai Sun Joey Genevieve Martinez Beixin Wang |
| author_sort | Meng Wang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Benthic meiofauna is a fundamental component of food webs and nutrient exchange of marine ecosystems. However, its diversity pattern and ecology of intertidal meiofauna remain poorly understood because the studies are often constrained by morphology-based species identification. Environmental DNA metabarcoding is a powerful tool to overcome this limitation. In the present study, we assessed the intertidal meiofauna diversity and their correlations with environmental variables using eDNA metabarcoding approach with both 18S rRNA and two COI markers. The 18S rRNA marker suggested Nematoda (32.1%), Arthropoda (10.5%), and Cercozoa (8.0%) were the three most abundant phyla while COI primers show strong biased towards either Arthropoda or Nematoda and generated inconsistent results when using different reference databases. The correlation analysis showed that most examined environmental factors were strongly associated with community separation, but only salinity, the content of clay, and pheophorbide were found to be significant. The eDNA metabarcoding recovered a terrestrial nematode belonging to the genus Acrobeloides in a marine-related environment. Further resampling and laboratory experiments confirmed this species is tolerant to high salinity concentrations, suggesting eDNA metabarcoding recovery is consistent with the laboratory experiment. This result demonstrated eDNA metabarcoding can be a promising tool for high-throughput new habitat discovery in meiofauna. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T15:30:55Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-2d9a68517aaa4e96851984b92765e38c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1470-160X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T15:30:55Z |
| publishDate | 2023-06-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecological Indicators |
| spelling | doaj.art-2d9a68517aaa4e96851984b92765e38c2023-04-28T08:54:26ZengElsevierEcological Indicators1470-160X2023-06-01150110223Environmental DNA metabarcoding of intertidal meiofauna sheds light on its potential for habitat discoveryMeng Wang0Timur Yergaliyev1Changhai Sun2Joey Genevieve Martinez3Beixin Wang4College of Plant Protection, Nanjing Agriculture University, Nanjing 210023, PR ChinaInstitute of Animal Science, HoLMiR, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart, GermanyCollege of Plant Protection, Nanjing Agriculture University, Nanjing 210023, PR ChinaMolecular Ecology and Physiology Laboratory, Premier Research Institute of Science and Mathematics (PRISM), Mindanao State University-Iligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT), Iligan City, PhilippinesCollege of Plant Protection, Nanjing Agriculture University, Nanjing 210023, PR China; Corresponding author.Benthic meiofauna is a fundamental component of food webs and nutrient exchange of marine ecosystems. However, its diversity pattern and ecology of intertidal meiofauna remain poorly understood because the studies are often constrained by morphology-based species identification. Environmental DNA metabarcoding is a powerful tool to overcome this limitation. In the present study, we assessed the intertidal meiofauna diversity and their correlations with environmental variables using eDNA metabarcoding approach with both 18S rRNA and two COI markers. The 18S rRNA marker suggested Nematoda (32.1%), Arthropoda (10.5%), and Cercozoa (8.0%) were the three most abundant phyla while COI primers show strong biased towards either Arthropoda or Nematoda and generated inconsistent results when using different reference databases. The correlation analysis showed that most examined environmental factors were strongly associated with community separation, but only salinity, the content of clay, and pheophorbide were found to be significant. The eDNA metabarcoding recovered a terrestrial nematode belonging to the genus Acrobeloides in a marine-related environment. Further resampling and laboratory experiments confirmed this species is tolerant to high salinity concentrations, suggesting eDNA metabarcoding recovery is consistent with the laboratory experiment. This result demonstrated eDNA metabarcoding can be a promising tool for high-throughput new habitat discovery in meiofauna.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X23003655Sediment DNAMarine biodiversityNematodaAcrobeloidesEnvironmental variables |
| spellingShingle | Meng Wang Timur Yergaliyev Changhai Sun Joey Genevieve Martinez Beixin Wang Environmental DNA metabarcoding of intertidal meiofauna sheds light on its potential for habitat discovery Ecological Indicators Sediment DNA Marine biodiversity Nematoda Acrobeloides Environmental variables |
| title | Environmental DNA metabarcoding of intertidal meiofauna sheds light on its potential for habitat discovery |
| title_full | Environmental DNA metabarcoding of intertidal meiofauna sheds light on its potential for habitat discovery |
| title_fullStr | Environmental DNA metabarcoding of intertidal meiofauna sheds light on its potential for habitat discovery |
| title_full_unstemmed | Environmental DNA metabarcoding of intertidal meiofauna sheds light on its potential for habitat discovery |
| title_short | Environmental DNA metabarcoding of intertidal meiofauna sheds light on its potential for habitat discovery |
| title_sort | environmental dna metabarcoding of intertidal meiofauna sheds light on its potential for habitat discovery |
| topic | Sediment DNA Marine biodiversity Nematoda Acrobeloides Environmental variables |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X23003655 |
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