Biogeographic partitioning of Southern Ocean microorganisms revealed by metagenomics

We performed a metagenomic survey (6.6 Gbp of 454 sequence data) of Southern Ocean (SO) microorganisms during the austral summer of 2007–2008, examining the genomic signatures of communities across a latitudinal transect from Hobart (44°S) to the Mertz Glacier, Antarctica (67°S). Operational taxonom...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental Microbiology
Main Authors: Wilkins, D, Lauro, FM, Williams, TJ, De Maere, M, Brown, MV, Hoffman, JM, Andrews-Pfannkoch, C, McQuaid, J, Riddle, M, Rintoul, S, Cavicchioli, R, DeMaere, Matthew
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2013
Subjects:
Amino Acids
Branched-Chain
Bacteria
Biodiversity
Cyanobacteria
Eukaryota
Metagenomics
Oceans and Seas
Phylogeny
RNA
Ribosomal
16S
Seawater
Water Microbiology
anzsrc-for: 060408 Genomics
anzsrc-for: 060504 Microbial Ecology
anzsrc-for: 060302 Biogeography and Phylogeography
anzsrc-for: 0603 Evolutionary Biology
anzsrc-for: 0605 Microbiology
Antarc*
Antarctica
Mertz Glacier
Southern Ocean
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1959.4/unsworks_49934
https://unsworks.unsw.edu.au/bitstreams/f500578f-460a-4c6b-8149-94cf9feb598e/download
https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.12035
Description
Summary:We performed a metagenomic survey (6.6 Gbp of 454 sequence data) of Southern Ocean (SO) microorganisms during the austral summer of 2007–2008, examining the genomic signatures of communities across a latitudinal transect from Hobart (44°S) to the Mertz Glacier, Antarctica (67°S). Operational taxonomic units (OTUs) of the SAR11 and SAR116 clades and the cyanobacterial genera Prochlorococcus and Synechococcus were strongly overrepresented north of the Polar Front (PF). Conversely, OTUs of the Gammaproteobacterial Sulfur Oxidizer-EOSA-1 (GSO-EOSA-1) complex, the phyla Bacteroidetes and Verrucomicrobia and order Rhodobacterales were characteristic of waters south of the PF. Functions enriched south of the PF included a range of transporters, sulphur reduction and histidine degradation to glutamate, while branched-chain amino acid transport, nucleic acid biosynthesis and methionine salvage were overrepresented north of the PF. The taxonomic and functional characteristics suggested a shift of primary production from cyanobacteria in the north to eukaryotic phytoplankton in the south, and reflected the different trophic statuses of the two regions. The study provides a new level of understanding about SO microbial communities, describing the contrasting taxonomic and functional characteristics of microbial assemblages either side of the PF.

Similar Items