Community Structure and Predictive Functional Analysis of Surface Water Bacterioplankton in the Danjiangkou Reservoir

Abstract

Bacterioplankton are important components of aquatic ecosystems, and play a crucial role in the global biogeochemical cycle of nitrogen. In this study, surface-water samples were collected from Kuxin (the center of Danjiangkou Reservoir) and Qushou (the Middle Route of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project's canal head) in the Danjiangkou Reservoir in May 2016. Total DNA was isolated, and high-throughput sequencing was performed to analyze the community structure and diversity of bacteria. Phylogenetic analyses of 16S rDNA sequences showed that bacterial communities included species from 12 major phylogenetic groups. The predominant phylogenetic groups included Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, Cyanobacteria, and Verrucomicrobia. The microbial biodiversity of Danjiangkou Reservoir bacterioplankton was greater in water samples from Qushou than in those from Kuxin. PICRUSt (phylogenetic investigation of communities by reconstruction of unobserved states) was used to determine the metabolic and functional abilities of the observed bacterial communities. Our results revealed a wide genetic diversity of organisms involved in various essential processes, such as Amino acid transport and metabolism, Transcription, Energy production and conversion, and Carbohydrate transport and metabolism. Thirty-five metabolic pathways involving nitrogen were detected. Key genes impacting the nitrogen cycle were detected in both the Kuxin and Qushou samples, and these encoded enzymes involved in nitrogen fixation (nifH), nitrification (hao), denitrification (narG、nirK、norB、nosZ), and assimilatory and dissimilatory nitrogen reduction to ammonia (nasA、narB、napA、nirA、nirB、nrfA). Copy numbers of 16S rRNA genes of each detected phylotype of Danjiangkou Reservoir bacterioplankton were uniformly higher in water samples from Kuxin than in water samples from Qushou. Our analyses of differences in nitrogen abatement potential between water samples, based on bacterial community composition and function, provide a foundation for setting water environmental protection policies in the Danjiangkou Reservoir.