A peek into Western Indian Ocean microbial richness: a pilot for a coral microbiome study

Abstract Microbial communities are essential components of natural ecosystems. Of the global oceans, the Indian Ocean remains the least studied in terms of its microbial diversity, despite it being a highly dynamic tropical water body. Metagenomics methods have significantly advanced studies in mari...

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Main Authors: Wambua, S, Gourlé, H, de Villiers, EP, Ngoi, J, Macdonald, A, Bongcam-Rudloff, E, de Villiers, S
Format: Internet publication
Language:English
Published: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press 2019
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author Wambua, S
Gourlé, H
de Villiers, EP
Ngoi, J
Macdonald, A
Bongcam-Rudloff, E
de Villiers, S
author_facet Wambua, S
Gourlé, H
de Villiers, EP
Ngoi, J
Macdonald, A
Bongcam-Rudloff, E
de Villiers, S
author_sort Wambua, S
collection OXFORD
description Abstract Microbial communities are essential components of natural ecosystems. Of the global oceans, the Indian Ocean remains the least studied in terms of its microbial diversity, despite it being a highly dynamic tropical water body. Metagenomics methods have significantly advanced studies in marine microbial ecology in recent years. Preliminary metabarcoding assessments are recommended to mitigate against the associated costs, prior to the metagenomics study, to give an impression of the diversity expected and determine the sequencing effort required. We report here the first metabarcoding survey of bacterial diversity of the western Indian Ocean (WIO) using samples used for optimizing environmental DNA (eDNA) isolation as pilot experiment for a metagenomic study investigating the coral-reef microbiome of the region. Sampling of water and sediment samples was done near-shore sublittoral and within the coral reef. About 3,000 microbial ribotypes were inferred, from which 41 phyla were uncovered. Sediments registered higher alpha diversity than seawater samples. The phylum Proteobacteria was dominant with its members constituting over 60% of the ribosomal sequence variants (RSVs). The other abundant bacteria were members of Bacteroidetes and Cyanobacteria phyla. We identified bacterial species with potential broad biotechnological applications, underscoring the WIO’s richness and the usefulness of eDNA metabarcoding approaches in bioprospecting as well as monitoring and/or surveying marine ecosystems.
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spelling oxford-uuid:ef049946-c269-4996-b586-cefd4f96721f2023-03-31T09:23:06ZA peek into Western Indian Ocean microbial richness: a pilot for a coral microbiome studyInternet publicationhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_7ad9uuid:ef049946-c269-4996-b586-cefd4f96721fEnglishSymplectic ElementsCold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press2019Wambua, SGourlé, Hde Villiers, EPNgoi, JMacdonald, ABongcam-Rudloff, Ede Villiers, SAbstract Microbial communities are essential components of natural ecosystems. Of the global oceans, the Indian Ocean remains the least studied in terms of its microbial diversity, despite it being a highly dynamic tropical water body. Metagenomics methods have significantly advanced studies in marine microbial ecology in recent years. Preliminary metabarcoding assessments are recommended to mitigate against the associated costs, prior to the metagenomics study, to give an impression of the diversity expected and determine the sequencing effort required. We report here the first metabarcoding survey of bacterial diversity of the western Indian Ocean (WIO) using samples used for optimizing environmental DNA (eDNA) isolation as pilot experiment for a metagenomic study investigating the coral-reef microbiome of the region. Sampling of water and sediment samples was done near-shore sublittoral and within the coral reef. About 3,000 microbial ribotypes were inferred, from which 41 phyla were uncovered. Sediments registered higher alpha diversity than seawater samples. The phylum Proteobacteria was dominant with its members constituting over 60% of the ribosomal sequence variants (RSVs). The other abundant bacteria were members of Bacteroidetes and Cyanobacteria phyla. We identified bacterial species with potential broad biotechnological applications, underscoring the WIO’s richness and the usefulness of eDNA metabarcoding approaches in bioprospecting as well as monitoring and/or surveying marine ecosystems.
spellingShingle Wambua, S
Gourlé, H
de Villiers, EP
Ngoi, J
Macdonald, A
Bongcam-Rudloff, E
de Villiers, S
A peek into Western Indian Ocean microbial richness: a pilot for a coral microbiome study
title A peek into Western Indian Ocean microbial richness: a pilot for a coral microbiome study
title_full A peek into Western Indian Ocean microbial richness: a pilot for a coral microbiome study
title_fullStr A peek into Western Indian Ocean microbial richness: a pilot for a coral microbiome study
title_full_unstemmed A peek into Western Indian Ocean microbial richness: a pilot for a coral microbiome study
title_short A peek into Western Indian Ocean microbial richness: a pilot for a coral microbiome study
title_sort peek into western indian ocean microbial richness a pilot for a coral microbiome study
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