Abstract
Studies on microbial communities are pivotal to understand the role and the evolutionary paths of the host and their associated microorganisms in the ecosystems. Meta-genomics techniques have proven to be one of the most effective tools in the identification of endosymbiotic communities of host species. The microbiome of the highly exploited topshell Phorcus sauciatus was characterized in the Northeastern Atlantic (Portugal, Madeira, Selvagens, Canaries and Azores). Alpha diversity analysis based on observed OTUs showed significant differences among regions. The Principal Coordinates Analysis of beta-diversity based on presence/absence showed three well differentiated groups, one from Azores, a second from Madeira and the third one for mainland Portugal, Selvagens and the Canaries. The microbiome results may be mainly explained by large-scale oceanographic processes of the study region, i.e., the North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre, and specifically by the Canary Current. Our results suggest the feasibility of microbiome as a model study to unravel biogeographic and evolutionary processes in marine species with high dispersive potential.
Highlights
During the last decades we have observed an increase in the number of studies trying to elucidate the role of species and the environment where they live due to research expeditions and the use of several modern techniques to identify species, including genetic-based techniques[1]
Most of the information concerning the influence of oceanographic processes such as major currents are based on pole-to-pole[23] and shallow-to-deep w ater[24] studies on the distribution of microorganisms in the marine realm
If ocean currents can explain the general distribution of marine coastal species, it should be likely to expect that currents may explain the microbiome biodiversity of their host marine species
Summary
During the last decades we have observed an increase in the number of studies trying to elucidate the role of species and the environment where they live due to research expeditions and the use of several modern techniques to identify species, including genetic-based techniques[1]. If ocean currents can explain the general distribution of marine coastal species, it should be likely to expect that currents may explain the microbiome biodiversity of their host marine species This hypothesis has remained mostly overlooked in studies focused on marine microbiome. We aim (i) to identify host-specific microbiome of an intertidal exploited species, the mollusc P. sauciatus; (ii) to evaluate the variations in host-associated microbiome across a latitudinal gradient in isolated archipelagos and adjacent mainland; (iii) to discern the importance of small-scale processes, i.e., environmental selection, and large-scale processes, i.e., geographic distances among populations in shaping microbiome of P. sauciatus; and (iii) to explore the potential of microbiome to unravel biogeographic differences among locations and the importance of large-scale oceanographic processes, i.e., major currents, structuring microbiome composition of this species
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