Vertical Stratification of Sediment Microbial Communities Along Geochemical Gradients of a Subterranean Estuary Located at the Gloucester Beach of Virginia, United States.

ABSTRACT: Subterranean estuaries (STEs) have been recognized as important ecosystems for the exchange of materials between the land and sea, but the microbial players of biogeochemical processes have not been well examined. In this study, we investigated the bacterial and archaeal communities within 10 cm depth intervals of a permeable sediment core (100 cm in length) collected from a STE located at Gloucester Point (GP-STE), VA, United States. High throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA genes and subsequent bioinformatics analyses were conducted to examine the composition, diversity, and potential functions of the sediment communities. The community composition varied significantly from the surface to a depth of 100 cm with up to 13,000 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) based on 97% sequence identities

SUBMITTER: Hong Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6336712 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature