Spatial Heterogeneity of Vibrio spp. in Sediments of Chinese Marginal Seas

Abstract

Vibrio spp. are ubiquitous marine bacteria with high metabolism flexibility and genome plasticity. Previous studies have revealed the dynamics of planktonic vibrios in relation to environmental forces, such as temperature and salinity. However, little is known about Vibrio ecology in benthic environments. Here, we elucidate the abundance, diversity, and spatial distribution of Vibrio spp. in sediments of the Chinese marginal seas, with a wide spatial range from north to south covering the Yellow Sea (YS), East China Sea (ECS), and South China Sea (SCS). Quantitative analysis showed that Vibrio spp. were most abundant in the SCS (ϳ9.04 ϫ 10 5 copies/g) compared to the YS (ϳ1.00 ϫ 10 5 copies/g) and ECS (ϳ8.86 ϫ 10 5 copies/g). Vibrio community compositions derived from Illumina sequencing of Vibrio-specific 16S rRNA genes varied significantly between sampling areas, which was reflected by a strong distance-decay pattern. The spatial distribution of Vibrio was governed by a joint effect of spatial and environmental factors (especially temperature, salinity, and SiO 3 2Ϫ ), and their respective pure effects explained only a small fraction of the community variation. Moreover, we identified the most prominent operational taxonomic units (OTUs) that were partitioned in these sea areas. Whereas Vibrionaceae OTU20 and Photobacterium lipolyticum were prevalent in the YS, Vibrio gigantis and Photobacterium piscicola, and P. piscicola, Photobacterium lutimaris, and Photobacterium alginatilyticum were prevalent in the ECS and SCS, respectively. Our study demonstrated clear spatial heterogeneity of Vibrio spp. in sediments of the Chinese marginal seas, laying a foundation for fully understanding the marine Vibrio ecology and the ecological roles of the species. IMPORTANCE Vibrio is an important component of natural marine microbial populations in terms of pathogenicity and roles in carbon cycling. Compared to the marine pelagic environment, our knowledge of the diversity and distribution pattern of Vibrio spp. in sediment is limited. Here, we show higher Vibrio abundance in Chinese marginal seas than in other studied sediments. There was a clear spatial differentiation of Vibrio abundance and community composition in different sea areas. The benthic Vibrio community displayed a strong distance-decay pattern across a wide spatial range, which was formed under the combined effects of spatial and environmental factors. These results provide deep insights into the ecological dynamics of Vibrio and its environmental controls, facilitating a more comprehensive understanding of the marine Vibrio ecology.

Responses of Free-Living Vibrio Community to Seasonal Environmental Variation in a Subtropical Inland Bay

“…We observed that the changes in the Vibrio community composition and diversity in relation to seasons were more likely to be a result of a direct influence of temperature, salinity, TDN, DIN, and TDP. Our findings confirmed that salinity was the most important environmental determinant of α-diversity in the Vibrio community as described in previous studies ( Siboni et al, 2016 ; Wang et al, 2019 ), and observed a similar positive correlation (Spearman, p < 0.001). The Bray-Curtis dissimilarity of the Vibrio community was also significantly correlated with temperature in the Maowei sea ( Table 2 Mantel test, p < 0.001) providing further evidence that warmer seawater increased the dissimilarity of the Vibrio community ( Liang et al, 2019 ).…”

“…Since they drive major biogeochemical cycles and support food webs globally, Vibrio communities are a vital component of the marine ecosystem. Furthermore, the diversity and dynamics of the Vibrio community have attracted growing interest worldwide, including in the Northern Chinese marginal seas, coastal North Atlantic, and Gulf Coast of Mexico ( López-Hernández et al, 2015 ; Vezzulli et al, 2016 ; Wang et al, 2019 ). Understanding when and where pathogenic Vibrio will break out is important for aquaculture and marine health.…”

Vertical variation in Vibrio community composition in Sansha Yongle Blue Hole and its ability to degrade macromolecules

“…Vibrio is a ubiquitous group of metabolically flexible marine heterotrophic bacteria, that play an important role in biogeochemical cycling in the ocean. There have been many studies on the diversity and dynamics of Vibrio populations in a variety of marine environments, including the Mid-Atlantic, Mediterranean coast, Australian coast, Japan surrounding seawater, and Chinese marginal seas (Amin et al 2016;Girard et al 2017;Liang et al 2019;Mansergh and Zehr 2014;Siboni et al 2016;Wang et al 2019;Westrich et al 2018). The distribution of Vibrio population in marine environment is influenced by many environmental factors including salinity, temperature, and in some cases the abundance of host organisms (Thompson et al 2004b).…”

Methane production in oxic seawater of the western North Pacific and its marginal seas

“…The raw reads were deposited in the National Center for Biotechnology Information Short Read Archive database (accession number PRJNA530319). The raw data were filtered according to the pipeline of Quantitative Insights into Microbial Ecology (Caporaso et al 2010), and read processing was conducted using the method used by Wang et al (2019) and Liu et al (2019).…”