Comparative actinomycete diversity in marine sediments

AME Aquatic Microbial Ecology Contact the journal Facebook Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsSpecials AME 52:1-11 (2008) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/ame01211 Comparative actinomycete diversity in marine sediments Alejandra Prieto-Davó, William Fenical, Paul R. Jensen* Center for Marine Biotechnology and Biomedicine, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, 92093-0204, USA *Corresponding author. Email: pjensen@ucsd.edu ABSTRACT: The diversity of cultured actinomycete bacteria was compared between near- and off-shore marine sediments. Strains were tested for the effects of seawater on growth and analyzed for 16S rRNA gene sequence diversity. In total, 623 strains representing 6 families in the order Actinomycetales were cultured. These strains were binned into 16 to 63 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) over a range of 97 to 100% sequence identity. The majority of the OTUs were closely related (>98% sequence identity) to strains previously reported from non-marine sources, indicating that most are not restricted to the sea. However, new OTUs averaged 96.6% sequence identity with previously cultured strains and ca. one-third of the OTUs were marine-specific, suggesting that sediment communities include considerable actinomycete diversity that does not occur on land. Marine specificity did not increase at the off-shore sites, indicating high levels of terrestrial influence out to 125 km from shore. The requirement of seawater for growth was observed among <6% of the strains, while all members of 9 OTUs possessed this trait, revealing a high degree of marine adaptation among some lineages. Statistical analyses predicted greater OTU diversity at the off-shore sites and provided a rationale for expanded exploration of deep-sea samples. A change in community composition was observed, with the number of Micromonospora OTUs increasing in the off-shore samples. UniFrac (see http://bmf2.colorado.edu/unifrac) statistics support a difference in community composition between near- and off-shore locations. Overall, 123 of 176 strains had distinct 16S rRNA gene sequences, indicating a high level of actinomycete diversity in marine sediments. KEY WORDS: Marine actinomycetes · Marine sediments · Bacterial diversity · Seawater requirements · Phylogeny Full text in pdf format NextCite this article as: Prieto-Davó A, Fenical W, Jensen PR (2008) Comparative actinomycete diversity in marine sediments. Aquat Microb Ecol 52:1-11. https://doi.org/10.3354/ame01211 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in AME Vol. 52, No. 1. Online publication date: June 19, 2008 Print ISSN: 0948-3055; Online ISSN: 1616-1564 Copyright © 2008 Inter-Research.