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Updated: Jun 25, 2026

Isolation, Propagation, and Identification of Bacterial Species with Hydrocarbon Metabolizing Properties from Aquatic Habitats
Published on: December 7, 2021
[Diversity of bacteria isolated from the South China Sea sediments]
Fengqin Sun1, Baojiang Wang, Guangyu Li
1Key Laboratory of Marine Biogenetic Resources, Third Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Xiamen 361005, China. fq.sun@163.com
Objective:
To isolate bacteria from Nansha area of South China sea,
Methods:
Sediment samples of 22 sites were used. Bacterial isolation was conducted on plates of marine medium, followed by 16S rRNA identification and phylogenetic analysis.
Results:
In total 349 bacteria were obtained, belonging to 87 species. Analyses of 16S rRNA sequence showed that Bacillus and other spore-forming bacteria occupied the majority of isolates in 10 sites. Bacillus was the most abundant bacterium and of high diversity; with 34 species and 8 possible novel species. Halobacillus also occurred frequently while other spore-forming bacteria including Brevibacillus, Paenibacillus, Pontibacillus and Thalassobacillus were also found, but less occurred in this area. In addition to these low-G+C-content bacteria, gamma-Proteobacteria were the second subgroup of high occurrence, among which Pseudomonas, Marinobacter and Alcanivorax were relatively abundant. Generally, isolates of 750-2000 m deep mainly consist of low-G+C-content bacteria, while mainly composed of gamma-Proteobacteria when the depth is over 2000 m.
Conclusion:
Marine sediments of South China Sea are rich in spore-forming bacteria, which deserve further study and exploitation.
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