Characterization of Bacterial Diversity and Pathogenic Bacteria in the Water Masses from Micronesia Using Pyrosequencing

Abstract

The investigation of patterns of microbial diversity and distribution in seawater is very important to understand the roles of microbes in modifications to the basic biological properties of global marine organisms, commonly driven by environmental factors and human activities. Furthermore, it could be foundation for further studies to determine the symbiotic relationship between pathogens and their hosts. Although the potential roles of microbes have been identified, their diversity and interactions with environmental factors such as temperature, salinity, pH and light absorbance are still unclear. So, we exploited a 16S rRNA gene taq-pyrosequencing technique to define the bacterial communities associated with two different seasonal seawater samples from South pacific in Weno island. Our results showed that approximate 1900 Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) were found for each season, February and June. Altogether, 51 bacterial phyla were detected from both seawater samples. Among them, Proteobacteria was identified as a most dominant group with at least 73%. Moreover, the value of Shannon index, which measures the evenness of the dispersion of individuals among OTUs, of seawater in February is almost two times higher than in June, suggesting that bacterial diversity in February increased compared to that in June. Another interesting point is that proportion of pathogenic bacteria in both seawaters was highly deteconmental factors and human activities. Furthermore, it could be foundation for further studies to determine the symbiotic relationship between pathogens and their hosts. Although the potential roles of microbes have been identified, their diversity and interactions with environmental factors such as temperature, salinity, pH and light absorbance are still unclear. So, we exploited a 16S rRNA gene taq-pyrosequencing technique to define the bacterial communities associated with two different seasonal seawater samples from South pacific in Weno island. Our results showed that approximate 1900 Operational Taxonomic Units (OTUs) were found for each season, February and June. Altogether, 51 bacterial phyla were detected from both seawater samples. Among them, Proteobacteria was identified as a most dominant group with at least 73%. Moreover, the value of Shannon index, which measures the evenness of the dispersion of individuals among OTUs, of seawater in February is almost two times higher than in June, suggesting that bacterial diversity in February increased compared to that in June. Another interesting point is that proportion of pathogenic bacteria in both seawaters was highly detec