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Microbial Community Composition and Function in Sediments from the Pearl River Mouth Basin

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Abstract

This study was conducted to characterize the diversity and function of microbial communities in marine sediments of the Pearl River Mouth Basin (PRMB) in the South China Sea. The results showed that the bacterial and archaeal communities varied greatly with depth. Proteobacteria in bacterial communities and Nitrososphaeria and Woesearchaeota in archaeal communities were dominant in the shallow sediments (1–40 cm), while Chloroflexi in bacterial communities and Bathyarchaeia in archaeal communities were dominant in the deep sediments (50–200 cm). Regarding ecological functions based on the metatranscriptomic data, genes involved in various pathways of nitrogen metabolism and sulfur metabolism were observed in the tested sediment samples. Metagenomic analysis revealed that Proteobacteria contribute the most to nearly all genes involved in nitrogen and sulfur metabolism. Moreover, Thaumarchaeota contribute the most to certain genes involved in nitrification, denitrification and assimilatory sulfate reduction pathways. The most abundant bacterial genus, Candidatus Scalindua, is crucial for nitrification, dissimilatory nitrate reduction, denitrification and assimilatory sulfate reduction pathways.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Mr. Hong Qiu for analyzing the TOC content. We are also grateful to all staff on the Dongfanghong 2 for assistance with the collection of samples and geochemical data during the cruise. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 41620104001 and 41806131) and the Scientific and Technological Innovation Project of the Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology (No. 2016 ASKJ02).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Marine Life Sciences, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266003, China

    Ye Chen & Siqi Li

  2. Laboratory for Marine Ecology and Environmental Science, Pilot National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology (Qingdao), Qingdao, 266071, China

    Ye Chen, Tiezhu Mi, Siqi Li & Yu Zhen

  3. Key Laboratory of Marine Environment and Ecology, Ministry of Education, Qingdao, 266100, China

    Ye Chen, Tiezhu Mi, Yueteng Liu, Siqi Li & Yu Zhen

  4. College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266100, China

    Tiezhu Mi, Yueteng Liu & Yu Zhen

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  1. Ye Chen
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Chen, Y., Mi, T., Liu, Y. et al. Microbial Community Composition and Function in Sediments from the Pearl River Mouth Basin. J. Ocean Univ. China 19, 941–953 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11802-020-4225-7

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