| Autor: |
Hakim JA; Department of Biology, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1300 University Blvd., Birmingham, AL 35294, USA., Green GBH; Department of Biology, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1300 University Blvd., Birmingham, AL 35294, USA., Watts SA; Department of Biology, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1300 University Blvd., Birmingham, AL 35294, USA., Crowley MR; Department of Genetics, Heflin Center Genomics Core, School of Medicine, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, 705 South 20th Street, Birmingham, AL 35294, USA., Morrow CD; Department of Cell, Developmental and Integrative Biology, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1918 University Blvd., Birmingham, AL 35294, USA., Bej AK; Department of Biology, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, 1300 University Blvd., Birmingham, AL 35294, USA. |
| Abstrakt: |
This paper describes the microbial community composition and genes for key metabolic genes, particularly the nitrogen fixation of the mucous-enveloped gut digesta of green ( Lytechinus variegatus ) and purple ( Strongylocentrotus purpuratus ) sea urchins by using the shotgun metagenomics approach. Both green and purple urchins showed high relative abundances of Gammaproteobacteria at 30% and 60%, respectively. However, Alphaproteobacteria in the green urchins had higher relative abundances (20%) than the purple urchins (2%). At the genus level, Vibrio was dominant in both green (~9%) and purple (~10%) urchins, whereas Psychromonas was prevalent only in purple urchins (~24%). An enrichment of Roseobacter and Ruegeria was found in the green urchins, whereas purple urchins revealed a higher abundance of Shewanella , Photobacterium , and Bacteroides ( q -value < 0.01). Analysis of key metabolic genes at the KEGG-Level-2 categories revealed genes for amino acids (~20%), nucleotides (~5%), cofactors and vitamins (~6%), energy (~5%), carbohydrates (~13%) metabolisms, and an abundance of genes for assimilatory nitrogen reduction pathway in both urchins. Overall, the results from this study revealed the differences in the microbial community and genes designated for the metabolic processes in the nutrient-rich sea urchin gut digesta, suggesting their likely importance to the host and their environment. |
