Divergent Microbiota Dynamics along the Coastal Marine Ecosystem of Puerto Rico

Dieunel Derilus,Clifford Louime,Filipa Godoy-Vitorino,Frances Vazquez-Sanchez

doi:10.3390/microbiolres11020009

Dieunel Derilus, Clifford Louime + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/microbiolres11020009

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Abstract

Understanding the different factors shaping the spatial and temporal distribution of marine microorganisms is fundamental in predicting their responses to future environmental disturbances. There has been, however, little effort to characterize the microbial diversity including the microbiome dynamics among regions in the Caribbean Sea. Toward this end, this study was designed to gain some critical insights into microbial diversity within the coastal marine ecosystem off the coast of Puerto Rico. Using Illumina MiSeq, the V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene was sequenced with the goal of characterizing the microbial diversity representative of different coastal sites around the island of Puerto Rico. This study provided valuable insights in terms of the local bacterial taxonomic abundance, α and β diversity, and the environmental factors shaping microbial community composition and structure. The most dominant phyla across all 11 sampling sites were the Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, and Planctomycetes, while the least dominant taxonomic groups were the NKB19, Tenericutes, OP3, Lentisphaerae, and SAR406. The geographical area (Caribbean and Atlantic seas) and salinity gradients were the main drivers shaping the marine microbial community around the island. Despite stable physical and chemical features of the different sites, a highly dynamic microbiome was observed. This highlights Caribbean waters as one of the richest marine sources for a microbial biodiversity hotspot. The data presented here provide a basis for further temporal evaluations aiming at deciphering microbial taxonomic diversity around the island, while determining how microbes adapt to changes in the climate.

Highlights

A key objective in microbial ecology is to understand the main factors affecting the spatial and temporal distributions of microbial taxa in the environment
Our 16S rRNA survey of samples collected across the island of Puerto Rico revealed that the geographical location and salinity were the main drivers of microbial structure in pelagic water
Our findings suggest that microbial community diversity across the island of Puerto Rico changes depending on the geographic location of either the Atlantic and the Caribbean with an increase in sulfate reducers and ammonia oxidizers

Summary

Introduction

A key objective in microbial ecology is to understand the main factors affecting the spatial and temporal distributions of microbial taxa in the environment. The Tara Expeditions have revealed that single-celled eukaryotes (protists) are critical players in global biogeochemical cycling of nutrients and energy in the oceans [17] This confirms the role of microbes in the global biogeochemical cycles of carbon and nitrogen as already discussed and the underlying evidence that genomic and metabolic plasticity are the basis of microbial adaptation in marine ecosystems [15]. The marine environment, with its dispersion due to water currents has an inherent complexity, in contrast to the static terrestrial environment This limits the understanding of microbiome dynamics in oceans, and highlights the importance of localized studies that define core microbiota analyses in different geographical locations so that in the coming years, a better picture of the global microbial composition and structure is available. Understanding the general mechanisms that shape the spatial distribution of bacterial taxa in specific marine microclimates, is a prerequisite to predict these ecosystems responses to eventual and future environmental changes

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