Characterization of bacterial communities associated with seasonal water masses from Tongyoung in South Sea of Korea

• Published in: Ocean science journal Vol. 49; no. 3; pp. 193 - 200
• Main Authors: Suh, Sung-Suk, Park, Mirye, Hwang, Jinik, Lee, Sukchan, Moh, Sang Hyun, Park, Ki Hwan, Lee, Taek-Kyun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Springer Korea Ocean Research and Development Institute and The Korean Society of Oceanography 01.09.2014; 한국해양과학기술원
• Subjects: Aquatic Pollution; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Marine; Marine & Freshwater Sciences; Oceanography; Proteobacteria; Pseudoalteromonas; Vibrio; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; 해양학; INW, Korea, Rep; 16S rRNA; Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs); Shannon index
• ISSN: 1738-5261; 2005-7172
• DOI: 10.1007/s12601-014-0019-4

Understanding the patterns of microbial diversity and their composition in seawater is necessary to assess the impacts of microbes on marine ecosystem. Although the potential roles of microbes in the ocean have been studied, their diversity and relationship with environmental factors remain unclear. In this study, we adopted a 16S rRNA gene tag-pyrosequencing technique to investigate the bacterial communities associated with two different water masses from Tongyoung in the South Sea of Korea. Our results revealed highly diverse bacterial communities up to 900 Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) estimated from each seawater which was collected in the month of March and May, when the environmental conditions including temperature differed significantly: 7.2°C and 17.6°C in March and May, respectively. Altogether, 13 bacterial phyla were recovered from the seawater, of which Proteobacteria was the most dominant group. In addition, the value of the Shannon index, which measures the evenness of the distribution of individuals among OTUs, in May is higher than that in March, indicating that it displays a wider diversity of bacteria. Interestingly, the proportion of pathogenic bacteria was significantly increased in the month of May compared to March, suggesting that pathogenic bacteria were increasingly emerging in May. In particular, Pseudoalteromonas and Vibrio spp. were determined as major pathogenic bacteria from both water masses, of which Vibrio spp. were dominant.