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Microbial community structure in the North Pacific ocean.

Mark V Brown1, Gayle K Philip, John A Bunge

  • 1NASA Astrobiology Institute, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, USA. markbrown@unsw.edu.au

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Summary

Microbial diversity in the ocean varied with depth. Bacteria decreased, Archaea increased in deeper waters, and Eucarya showed higher richness than previously estimated, impacting carbon cycling.

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Area of Science:

  • Marine microbiology
  • Oceanography
  • Phylogenetics

Background:

  • Understanding microbial community structure is crucial for marine ecosystems.
  • Depth influences microbial diversity and function in the ocean.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the phylogenetic diversity of Archaea, Bacteria, and Eucarya across oceanic depth profiles.
  • To compare microbial communities at epi-, meso-, and bathypelagic zones.

Main Methods:

  • Ribosomal tag pyrosequencing of the V9 region of the SSU rRNA gene.
  • Amplification of samples from 10 m, 800 m, and 4400 m depths at Station ALOHA.
  • Analysis of 444,147 sequence tags to identify unique sequences and community overlap.

Main Results:

  • Remarkably low sequence overlap between different depths (0.5% at all three depths).
  • Bacterial diversity decreased with depth; Archaea diversity increased in deeper waters.
  • Eucarya richness estimates were significantly higher than previous marine studies, with potential roles in carbon flux.

Conclusions:

  • Oceanic microbial communities exhibit distinct depth-related phylogenetic structures.
  • Microbial Eucarya may play a more significant role in marine carbon flux.
  • Deep-sea microbes, potentially from non-pelagic sources, are vital for global biogeochemical cycles.