Microbial Eukaryotes Associated With Sediments in Deep-Sea Cold Seeps

Frontiers in Microbiology

Yue Zhang¹  Ning Huang¹  Minxiao Wang⁴  Hongbin Liu⁵  Hongmei Jing⁵ 

[1] CAS Key Laboratory for Experimental Study Under Deep-Sea Extreme Conditions, Institute of Deep-Sea Science and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sanya, China;Department of Ocean Science, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China;HKUST-CAS Sanya Joint Laboratory of Marine Science Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Sanya, China;Key Laboratory of Marine Ecology and Environmental Sciences, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, China;Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory, Zhuhai, China;

关键词: microbial eukaryotes;    cold seeps;    distribution;    diversity;    parasitic;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fmicb.2021.782004

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Microbial eukaryotes are key components of the marine food web, but their distribution in deep-sea chemosynthetic ecosystems has not been well studied. Here, high-throughput sequencing of the 18S rRNA gene and network analysis were applied to investigate the diversity, distribution and potential relationships between microbial eukaryotes in samples collected from two cold seeps and one trough in the northern South China Sea. SAR (i.e., Stramenopiles, Alveolata, and Rhizaria) was the predominant group in all the samples, and it was highly affiliated to genotypes with potential symbiotic and parasitic strategies identified from other deep-sea extreme environments (e.g., oxygen deficient zones, bathypelagic waters, and hydrothermal vents). Our findings indicated that specialized lineages of deep-sea microbial eukaryotes exist in chemosynthetic cold seeps, where microbial eukaryotes affiliated with parasitic/symbiotic taxa were prevalent in the community. The biogeographic pattern of the total community was best represented by the intermediate operational taxonomic unit (OTU) category, whose relative abundance ranged 0.01–1% within a sample, and the communities of the two cold seeps were distinct from the trough, which suggests that geographical proximity has no critical impact on the distribution of deep-sea microbial eukaryotes. Overall, this study has laid the foundations for future investigations regarding the ecological function and in situ trophic relationships of microbial eukaryotes in deep-sea ecosystems.

【 授权许可】

Unknown