College of Marine Sciences, South China Agricultural University, Guangzhou, China.
State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution Health Risk Assessment, South China Institute of Environmental Sciences, MEE, Guangzhou, China.
Microbiol Spectr. 2023 Feb 14;11(1):e0368322. doi: 10.1128/spectrum.03683-22. Epub 2022 Dec 12.
Microbial communities in coastal waters are diverse and dynamic and play important roles in ecosystem functions and services. Despite the ecological impact of bacterioplankton or pathogens, little is known about whether bacterioplankton and pathogen communities exhibit similar patterns. Here, using 16S RNA gene amplicon sequencing, the geographic patterns and assembly processes of bacterioplankton and pathogen communities in 30 subtropical estuaries were studied. Results showed that the estuarine bacterioplankton communities mainly consisted of (49.06%), (17.62%), and (16.33%), among which 31 pathogen genera (186 amplicon sequence variants [ASVs]) were identified. Under the influence of salinity, bacterioplankton and pathogens showed similar biogeographic patterns. Redundancy and correlation analyses indicated that the bacterioplankton communities were strongly correlated with estuarine environmental factors, but potential pathogens were less influenced. Co-occurrence network analysis revealed a close relationship between bacterioplankton and potential pathogens, with two pathogens identified as connectors (i.e., ASV340 [Clostridium perfringens] and ASV1624 [Brevundimonas diminuta]), implying potential impacts of pathogens on structure, function, and stability of estuarine bacterioplankton communities. Null-model analysis revealed that deterministic processes (heterogeneous selection) dominated bacterioplankton community assembly, while stochastic processes (undominated effect) shaped the potential pathogen community. Our findings illustrate the biogeographic patterns and community assembly mechanisms of bacterioplankton and pathogens in estuaries, which should provide guidance and a reference for the control of potential pathogenic bacteria. Bacterioplankton play an important role in estuarine ecosystem functions and services; however, potentially pathogenic bacteria may exhibit infectivity and pose a serious threat to environmental and human health. In this study, geographic patterns and assembly processes of bacterioplankton communities in 30 subtropical estuaries were explored, and potential pathogenic bacteria in the estuaries were detected and profiled. Our results demonstrate here that bacterioplankton and pathogens show similar biogeographic patterns under the influence of salinity. Interestingly, heterogeneous selection dominated bacterioplankton assembly, while stochasticity dominated pathogen assembly. This study provides important information for future risk assessment of potential pathogenic bacteria as well as management in estuarine ecosystems.
沿海水域的微生物群落多样且具有动态性，在生态系统功能和服务中发挥着重要作用。尽管浮游细菌或病原体具有生态影响，但人们对于浮游细菌和病原体群落是否表现出相似的模式知之甚少。在这里，使用 16S RNA 基因扩增子测序，研究了 30 个亚热带河口浮游细菌和病原体群落的地理格局和组装过程。结果表明，河口浮游细菌群落主要由 （49.06%）、 （17.62%）和 （16.33%）组成，其中鉴定出 31 种病原体属（186 个扩增子序列变异体[ASV]）。在盐度的影响下，浮游细菌和病原体表现出相似的生物地理格局。冗余和相关分析表明，浮游细菌群落与河口环境因素密切相关，但潜在病原体的影响较小。共现网络分析表明，浮游细菌和潜在病原体之间存在密切关系，其中两种病原体被确定为连接器（即 ASV340[梭状芽胞杆菌]和 ASV1624[纤细单胞菌]），这表明潜在病原体对河口浮游细菌群落的结构、功能和稳定性可能产生影响。零模型分析表明，确定性过程（异质选择）主导着浮游细菌群落的组装，而随机过程（非主导效应）塑造了潜在病原体群落。我们的研究结果说明了浮游细菌和病原体在河口的生物地理格局和群落组装机制，这应该为潜在病原体细菌的控制提供指导和参考。浮游细菌在河口生态系统功能和服务中发挥着重要作用；然而，潜在的病原体细菌可能具有感染力，并对环境和人类健康构成严重威胁。在这项研究中，探索了 30 个亚热带河口浮游细菌群落的地理格局和组装过程，并检测和分析了河口的潜在病原体细菌。我们的研究结果表明，在盐度的影响下，浮游细菌和病原体表现出相似的生物地理格局。有趣的是，异质选择主导着浮游细菌的组装，而随机性主导着病原体的组装。这项研究为未来潜在病原体细菌的风险评估以及河口生态系统的管理提供了重要信息。
