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Updated: Feb 22, 2026
Coral Reef Arks: An In Situ Mesocosm and Toolkit for Assembling Reef Communities
Published on: January 6, 2023
Decoding the biotic networks and functional potential of seamount sediments in the Arabian sea
Senthil Alias Sankar1, Sneha Kalasseril Girijan1, Yashwanth Belathur Shambhugowda2
1Centre for Marine Living Resources and Ecology, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Atal Bhavan Government of India, Kochi, 682508, Kerala, India.
Background:
The Arabian Sea is ecologically and environmentally significant due to its high biotic diversity and its potential role as a reservoir of emerging resistance determinants. However, molecular-level insights into the taxonomic composition, functional potential, and resistome of sediment associated communities from deep-sea seamount sediments remain limited.
Methods And Results:
A metagenomic approach was employed to investigate the biotic composition, metabolic potential, resistome profiles, and physicochemical characteristics of two seamount sediment samples (SM1 and SM7) collected from the Arabian Sea. Distinct environmental conditions were observed, with SM1 enriched in inorganic nitrogen, whereas SM7 exhibited higher organic carbon content and pigment concentrations, indicating differences in substrate availability. These variations were consistent with differences in the community structure, with SM1 harbouring a less diverse assemblage dominated by Actinomycetota and fungi, while SM7 supported a broader community comprising Actinomycetota, diverse fungi, protists, metazoans, and a richer viral component. Functional annotation revealed enrichment of nitrogen metabolism pathways in SM1, whereas SM7 showed increased representation of carbohydrate metabolism and a higher proportion of novel gene content. Both sediment samples encoded antibiotic and heavy metal resistance genes; however, SM7 exhibited greater abundance and diversity of putative resistance-associated genes, including resistance to mupirocin, triclosan, and sulfonamides, along with broader metal resistance and stress response genes.
Conclusions:
The results based on two samples demonstrate pronounced sample specific variation in community structure, metabolic potential, and resistome profiles across Arabian Sea seamount sediments. These findings highlight Arabian Sea deep-sea sediments as important molecular reservoirs of microbial diversity and adaptive potential shaped by local environmental conditions.
