黄渤海底栖纤毛虫分子多样性和生物地理学研究

对中国渤海、北黄海和南黄海三个海域底栖纤毛虫的分子多样性与生物地理学进行了研究。从底栖真核微生物18S rDNA的焦磷酸测序数据中提取出隶属于纤毛门的序列，并在此基础上分析了纤毛虫群落的阿尔法多样性和贝塔多样性。结果表明，纤毛虫操作分类单元的丰富度在渤海比北黄海和南黄海都高，但夏冬两季无显著差异。在所有检测的环境因子中，水体深度与阿尔法多样性的相关性最强。就纤毛虫群落组成上看，总体上旋唇纲的序列及操作分类单元丰富度均占优势地位（占比分别为77.0%和66.5%）；旋唇纲主要由环毛亚纲以及未能进一步分类的类群组成。底栖纤毛虫群落结构在三个海域之间显著不同，但夏冬两季无显著差异。从各主要类群的相对比例来看，唯有侧口纲的序列比例在三个区域间呈现显著的不同。偏门特尔分析表明，相对于地理距离和环境因子而言，水体深度在调控底栖纤毛虫群落结构中扮演者更为重要的角色。本研究同时也发现，超过60%的操作分类单元未能被进一步分类到纲或目级水平，约45%的操作分类单元与GenBank数据库中已描述种类的序列相似度低于或等于97%，表明在近海沉积物中可能存在大量待发现的纤毛虫类群或物种。本研究发现底栖纤毛虫阿尔法多样性从北黄海到南黄海降低的趋势，这一点与之前基于形态学方法的调查结果相似。然而，测序数据显示旋唇纲是最主要类群，而形态学调查表明前口纲和核残迹纲是主要类群。本文也探讨了可能造成分子与形态学研究结果差异的一些潜在原因。

Molecular diversity and biogeography of benthic ciliates in the Bohai Sea and Yellow Sea

This study explored the molecular diversity and biogeography of benthic ciliates in Chinese marginal seas, the Bohai Sea(BHS), North Yellow Sea(NYS) and South Yellow Sea(SYS). From a previous 18S rRNA gene pyrosequencing dataset of the benthic microeukaryotes, we retrieved the sequences affiliated with phylum Ciliophora and analyzed alpha and beta diversities of ciliate communities. We found that BHS had the highest ciliate operational taxonomic unit(OTU) richness than NYS and SYS, whereas the richness was not significantly different between summer and winter. Among all the measured environmental variables, water depth showed consistently the strongest correlations with alpha diversities. Overall, the class Spirotrichea(mostly Choreotrichia and unassigned lineages within the class) dominated the communities in terms of both relative proportion of sequences(77.0%) and OTU richness(66.5%). OTU-level ciliate community structure was significant different among the three basins, but not between the seasons. Structurally, significant differences in relative proportion among the basins were detected for the class Litostomatea, but not for other classes. Partial Mantel tests demonstrated that water depth difference was more important than geographic and environment distances in shaping the community structure of benthic ciliates in the studied area. About 60% OTUs were not assigned at a class or order level and at least 45% OTUs shared a sequence similarity no more than 97% with the described species, indicating a great potential for ciliate species discovery in the offshore sediments. Compared with previous morphology-based surveys, the spatial pattern of ciliate diversity(decreasing from NYS to SYS) is also identified in the present study. Nevertheless, structurally, the dominant class appeared to be Spirotrichea in the sequencing dataset, which differs from previous morphology-based results(dominance of classes Prostomatea and Karyorelictea in biomass). The potential causes for the discrepancies between molecular and morphological findings are also discussed.