东印度洋细菌类群水平与垂直分布初探

作为海洋食物网的重要组成部分,微生物在海洋的生物化学循环以及能量和元素流动中起着重要的作用。目前对东印度洋中微生物的种群结构和分布知之甚少。本研究运用分子生物学手段,包括多聚酶链式反应-变形梯度凝胶电泳(PCR-DGGE)技术和高通量测序技术,对东印度洋的赤道区域以及邻近的孟加拉湾区域水体中细菌的16S rRNA基因进行了探索。结果表明,Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria (Alpha和Gamma类群), Actinobacteria, Cyanobacteria和Planctomycetes为研究区域微生物的主要类群。通过PCR-DGGE,发现微生物类群具有显著的水平分布模式;进一步的高通量测序的结果更加清晰的显示出细菌类群的垂直分布模式:相对其他两层,Cyanobacteria和Actinobacteria在25米水层出现更多;Bacteroidetes在25m和150m为主要类群,而在75m水层相对较少;Proteobacteria (主要为Alphaproteobacteria)类群在75m水层为优势类群。随着水层的加深,不同站位的细菌类群组成趋于一致。结果表明高通量测序能够把占据微小部分的微生物类群区分出来。本研究是针对东印度洋水体中细菌的水平和垂直分布以及多样性信息的首次报道,研究结果对于进一步发现潜在微生物功能类群以及探索这些微生物在东印度洋中的能量和物质循环中的作用有所帮助。

A snapshot on spatial and vertical distribution of bacterial communities in the eastern Indian Ocean

Besides being critical components of marine food web, microorganisms play vital roles in biogeochemical cycling of nutrients and elements in the ocean. Currently little is known about microbial population structure and their distributions in the eastern Indian Ocean. In this study, we applied molecular approaches including polymerase chain reaction-denaturant gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) and High-Throughput next generation sequencing to investigate bacterial 16S rRNA genes from the equatorial regions and the adjacent Bay of Bengal in the eastern Indian Ocean. In general, Bacteroidetes, Proteobacteria (mainly Alpha, and Gamma), Actinobacteria, Cyanobacteria and Planctomycetes dominated the microbial communities. Horizontally distinct spatial distribution of major microbial groups was observed from PCR-DGGE gel image analyses. However, further detailed characterization of community structures by pyrosequencing suggested a more pronounced stratified distribution pattern: Cyanobacteria and Actinobacteria were more predominant at surface water (25 m); Bacteroidetes dominated at 25 m and 150 m while Proteobacteria (mainly Alphaproteobacteria) occurred more frequently at 75 m water depth. With increasing water depth, the bacterial communities from different locations tended to share high similarity, indicating a niche partitioning for minor groups of bacteria recovered with high throughput sequencing approaches. This study provided the first "snapshot" on biodiversity and spatial distribution of Bacteria in water columns in the eastern Indian Ocean, and the findings further emphasized the potential functional roles of these microbes in energy and resource cycling in the eastern Indian Ocean.