Microbial Community Composition in the Marine Sediments of Jeju Island: Next-Generation Sequencing Surveys

• Published in: Journal of microbiology and biotechnology Vol. 26; no. 5; pp. 883 - 890
• Main Authors: Choi, Heebok, Koh, Hyeon-Woo, Kim, Hongik, Chae, Jong-Chan, Park, Soo-Je
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Korea (South) 한국미생물·생명공학회 28.05.2016
• Subjects: Archaea - classification; Archaea - genetics; Bacteria - classification; Bacteria - genetics; Biodiversity; Biota; DNA, Archaeal - genetics; DNA, Bacterial - genetics; Geologic Sediments - microbiology; High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing - methods; Islands; Phylogeny; Phylogeography; Republic of Korea; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S - genetics; Seawater; Sequence Analysis, DNA; 생물학; marine sediment; Bacteria; Jeju Island; Archaea; 16S rRNA gene
• ISSN: 1017-7825; 1738-8872
• DOI: 10.4014/jmb.1512.12036

Marine sediments are a microbial biosphere with an unknown physiology, and the sediments harbor numerous distinct phylogenetic lineages of Bacteria and Archaea that are at present uncultured. In this study, the structure of the archaeal and bacterial communities was investigated in the surface and subsurface sediments of Jeju Island using a next-generation sequencing method. The microbial communities in the surface sediments were distinct from those in the subsurface sediments; the relative abundance of sequences for Thaumarchaeota, Actinobacteria, Bacteroides, Alphaproteobacteria, and Gammaproteobacteria were higher in the surface than subsurface sediments, whereas the sequences for Euryarchaeota, Acidobacteria, Firmicutes, and Deltaproteobacteria were relatively more abundant in the subsurface than surface sediments. This study presents detailed characterization of the spatial distribution of benthic microbial communities of Jeju Island and provides fundamental information on the potential interactions mediated by microorganisms with the different biogeochemical cycles in coastal sediments.