Abstract
This study describes the community composition and functions of the microbiome associated with the mucus of the coral Fungia echinata based on metagenomic approach. Metagenome sequence data showed a dominance of the class Gammaproteobacteria followed by Alphaproteobacteria, Betaproteobacteria, Deltaproteobacteria, Flavobacteriia, Bacilli, and Clostridia. At the order level, the most abundant groups were Pseudomonadales, Oceanospirillales, Alteromonadales, and Rhodobacterales. The genus Psychrobacter was the most predominant followed by Thalassolituus and Cobetia, although other genera were also present, such as Sulfitobacter, Pseudoalteromonas, Oleispira, Halomonas, Oceanobacter, Acinetobacter, Pseudomonas, Vibrio, and Marinobacter. The metabolic profile of the bacterial community displayed high prevalence of genes associated with core-housekeeping processes, such as carbohydrates, amino acids, proteins, and nucleic acid metabolism. Further, high abundance of genes coding for DNA replication and repair, stress response, and virulence factors in the metagenome suggested acquisition of specific environmental adaptation by the microbiota. Comparative analysis with other coral metagenome exhibits marked differences at the taxonomical and functional level. This study suggests the bacterial community compositions are influenced by the specific coral micro-niche and the oligotrophic marine environment.
Highlights
IntroductionMetagenomic approach gives a description of the taxonomic information (Tyson et al, 2004), the relative abundance of phylotypes and genes (Wegley et al, 2007; Littman et al, 2011), antibiotic resistance reservoir (Sommer et al, 2009), and identification of genes involved in various biosynthetic and metabolic pathways (Schirmer et al, 2005; Tringe et al, 2005; Rodriguez-Brito et al, 2006)
India has a vast reserve of coral reef ecosystem in the east coast of Andaman and Nicobar Islands
The bacterial community in the coral mucus was dominated by sequences affiliated to the class Gammaproteobacteria (64.7%), followed by the class Alphaproteobacteria (3.5%); the other bacterial sequences were affiliated to the Betaproteobacteria, Flavobacteriia, Clostridia, Deltaproteobacteria, and Bacilli (Figure 2)
Summary
Metagenomic approach gives a description of the taxonomic information (Tyson et al, 2004), the relative abundance of phylotypes and genes (Wegley et al, 2007; Littman et al, 2011), antibiotic resistance reservoir (Sommer et al, 2009), and identification of genes involved in various biosynthetic and metabolic pathways (Schirmer et al, 2005; Tringe et al, 2005; Rodriguez-Brito et al, 2006) This approach enables assessment of taxonomic and functional characteristics of complex microbial communities
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