Kong Jie, Liu Xin, Wang Lei, Huang Hao, Ou Danyun, Guo Jiayu, Laws Edward A, Huang Bangqin
State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China.
Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory for Coastal Ecology and Environmental Studies, College of the Environment and Ecology, Xiamen University, Xiamen, China.
Front Microbiol. 2021 Jan 21;11:599614. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.599614. eCollection 2020.
Bacteria play a pivotal role in shaping ecosystems and contributing to elemental cycling and energy flow in the oceans. However, few studies have focused on bacteria at a trans-basin scale, and studies across the subtropical Northwest Pacific Ocean (NWPO), one of the largest biomes on Earth, have been especially lacking. Although the recently developed high-throughput quantitative sequencing methodology can simultaneously provide information on relative abundance, quantitative abundance, and taxonomic affiliations, it has not been thoroughly evaluated. We collected surface seawater samples for high-throughput, quantitative sequencing of 16S rRNA genes on a transect across the subtropical NWPO to elucidate the distribution of bacterial taxa, patterns of their community structure, and the factors that are potentially important regulators of that structure. We used the quantitative and relative abundances of bacterial taxa to test hypotheses related to their ecology. Total 16S rRNA gene copies ranged from 1.86 × 10 to 1.14 × 10 copies L. Bacterial communities were distributed in distinct geographical patterns with spatially adjacent stations clustered together. Spatial considerations may be more important determinants of bacterial community structures than measured environmental variables. The quantitative and relative abundances of bacterial communities exhibited similar distribution patterns and potentially important determinants at the whole-community level, but inner-community connections and correlations with variables differed at subgroup levels. This study advanced understanding of the community structure and distribution patterns of marine bacteria as well as some potentially important determinants thereof in a subtropical oligotrophic ocean system. Results highlighted the importance of considering both the quantitative and relative abundances of members of marine bacterial communities.
细菌在塑造生态系统以及促进海洋中的元素循环和能量流动方面发挥着关键作用。然而，很少有研究关注跨流域尺度的细菌，而对地球上最大的生物群落之一——亚热带西北太平洋（NWPO）的研究尤其匮乏。尽管最近开发的高通量定量测序方法能够同时提供有关相对丰度、定量丰度和分类归属的信息，但尚未得到全面评估。我们在横跨亚热带NWPO的断面上采集了表层海水样本，用于对16S rRNA基因进行高通量定量测序，以阐明细菌类群的分布、其群落结构模式以及可能是该结构重要调节因子的因素。我们使用细菌类群的定量和相对丰度来检验与其生态学相关的假设。16S rRNA基因的总拷贝数范围为1.86×10至1.14×10拷贝/升。细菌群落以不同的地理模式分布，空间上相邻的站点聚集在一起。空间因素可能比测量的环境变量更重要，是细菌群落结构的决定因素。细菌群落的定量和相对丰度在整个群落水平上表现出相似的分布模式和潜在的重要决定因素，但在亚群落水平上，群落内部的联系以及与变量的相关性有所不同。这项研究增进了我们对亚热带贫营养海洋系统中海洋细菌群落结构和分布模式及其一些潜在重要决定因素的理解。结果强调了同时考虑海洋细菌群落成员的定量和相对丰度的重要性。
