The Composition, Diversity and Predictive Metabolic Profiles of Bacteria Associated With the Gut Digesta of Five Sea Urchins in Luhuitou Fringing Reef (Northern South China Sea).

ABSTRACT: Sea urchins strongly affect reef ecology, and the bacteria associated with their gut digesta have not been well studied in coral reefs. In the current study, we analyze the bacterial composition of five sea urchin species collected from Luhuitou fringing reef, namely Stomopneustes variolaris, Diadema setosum, Echinothrix calamaris, Diadema savignyi, and Tripneustes gratilla, using high-throughput 16S rRNA gene-based pyrosequencing. Propionigenium, Prolixibacter, and Photobacterium were found to be the dominant bacterial genera in all five species. Interestingly, four sea urchin species, including S. variolaris, D. setosum, E. calamaris, and D. savignyi, displayed a higher mean total abundance of the three b

SUBMITTER: Yao Q 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6546719 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature