The metabolic core of the prokaryotic community from deep-sea sediments of the southern Gulf of Mexico shows different functional signatures between the continental slope and abyssal plain

PeerJ

article

Mónica Torres-Beltrán¹  Lluvia Vargas-Gastélum²  Dante Magdaleno-Moncayo³  Meritxell Riquelme²  Juan Carlos Herguera-García⁴  Alejandra Prieto-Davó⁵  Asunción Lago-Lestón¹ 

[1] Departamento de Innovación Biomédica;Departamento de Microbiología;Facultad de Ingeniería, Arquitectura y Diseño, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California;Departamento de Ecología Marina;Facultad de Química, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

关键词: Microbial community metabolism;    Deep-sea sediments;    Hydrocarbons;    Amino acids;    Gulf of Mexico;    Metagenomics;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.12474

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

Marine sediments harbor an outstanding level of microbial diversity supporting diverse metabolic activities. Sediments in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) are subjected to anthropic stressors including oil pollution with potential effects on microbial community structure and function that impact biogeochemical cycling. We used metagenomic analyses to provide significant insight into the potential metabolic capacity of the microbial community in Southern GoM deep sediments. We identified genes for hydrocarbon, nitrogen and sulfur metabolism mostly affiliated with Alpha and Betaproteobacteria, Acidobacteria, Chloroflexi and Firmicutes, in relation to the use of alternative carbon and energy sources to thrive under limiting growth conditions, and metabolic strategies to cope with environmental stressors. In addition, results show amino acids metabolism could be associated with sulfur metabolism carried out by Acidobacteria, Chloroflexi and Firmicutes, and may play a crucial role as a central carbon source to favor bacterial growth. We identified the tricarboxylic acid cycle (TCA) and aspartate, glutamate, glyoxylate and leucine degradation pathways, as part of the core carbon metabolism across samples. Further, microbial communities from the continental slope and abyssal plain show differential metabolic capacities to cope with environmental stressors such as oxidative stress and carbon limiting growth conditions, respectively. This research combined taxonomic and functional information of the microbial community from Southern GoM sediments to provide fundamental knowledge that links the prokaryotic structure to its potential function and which can be used as a baseline for future studies to model microbial community responses to environmental perturbations, as well as to develop more accurate mitigation and conservation strategies.

【 授权许可】

CC BY