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Updated: Jul 18, 2025

Visualizing Methane-Cycling Microbial Dynamics in Coastal Wetlands
Published on: January 31, 2025
Microbial communities related to the sulfur cycle in the Sansha Yongle Blue Hole
Kai Sun1, Min Yu1,2,3, Xiao-Yu Zhu1
1Frontiers Science Center for Deep Ocean Multispheres and Earth System, College of Marine Life Sciences, Ocean University of China , Qingdao, China.
Importance:
Oxygen-deficient regions in the global ocean are expanding rapidly and affect the growth, reproduction and ecological processes of marine organisms. The anaerobic water body of about 150 m in the Sansha Yongle Blue Hole (SYBH) provided a suitable environment to study the specific microbial metabolism in anaerobic seawater. Here, we found that the vertical distributions of the total and active communities of sulfur-oxidizing bacteria (SOB) and sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) were different in each water layer of the SYBH according to the dissolved oxygen content. Genes related to sulfur metabolism also showed distinct stratification characteristics. Furthermore, we have obtained diverse metagenome-assembled genomes, some of which exhibit special sulfur metabolic characteristics, especially candidate phyla JdFR-76 and AABM5-125-24 were identified as potential novel SRB. The results of this study will promote further understanding of the sulfur cycle in extreme environments, as well as the environmental adaptability of microorganisms in blue holes.
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