Spatially extensive microbial biogeography of the Indian Ocean provides insights into the unique community structure of a pristine coral atoll.
Microorganisms act both as drivers and indicators of perturbations in the marine environment. In an effort to establish baselines to predict the response of marine habitats to environmental change, here we report a broad survey of microbial diversity across the Indian Ocean, including the first microbial samples collected in the pristine lagoon of Salomon Islands, Chagos Archipelago. This was the first large-scale ecogenomic survey aboard a private yacht employing a 'citizen oceanography' approach and tools and protocols easily adapted to ocean going sailboats. Our data highlighted biogeographic patterns in microbial community composition across the Indian Ocean. Samples from within the Salomon Islands lagoon contained a community which was different even from adjacent samples despite constant water exchange, driven by the dominance of the photosynthetic cyanobacterium Synechococcus. In the lagoon, Synechococcus was also responsible for driving shifts in the metatranscriptional profiles. Enrichment of transcripts related to photosynthesis and nutrient cycling indicated bottom-up controls of community structure. However a five-fold increase in viral transcripts within the lagoon during the day, suggested a concomitant top-down control by bacteriophages. Indeed, genome recruitment against Synechococcus reference genomes suggested a role of viruses in providing the ecological filter for determining the β-diversity patterns in this system.
Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Sydney, NSW, Australia.|Plant Functional Biology and Climate Change Cluster, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.|Indigo V Expeditions, ONE°15 Marina, #01-01, 11 Cove Drive, Sentosa Cove, Singapore.
Thomas C
TC
Jeffries
Indigo V Expeditions, ONE°15 Marina, #01-01, 11 Cove Drive, Sentosa Cove, Singapore.|Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Martin
M
Ostrowski
Singapore Centre on Environmental Life Sciences Engineering (SCELSE), National University of Singapore, Singapore.
Rohan B
RB
Williams
Singapore Centre on Environmental Life Sciences Engineering (SCELSE), National University of Singapore, Singapore.
Chao
C
Xie
Indigo V Expeditions, ONE°15 Marina, #01-01, 11 Cove Drive, Sentosa Cove, Singapore.
Rachelle M
RM
Jensen
Indigo V Expeditions, ONE°15 Marina, #01-01, 11 Cove Drive, Sentosa Cove, Singapore.|Division of Earth and Ecosystem Sciences, Desert Research Institute, Reno, NV, USA.
Joseph J
JJ
Grzymski
Department of Transport, Technical University of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Svend Jacob
SJ
Senstius
Costerton Biofilm Center, Department of International Health, Immunology, and Microbiology, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Michael
M
Givskov
Centre for Australian Climate and Weather Research, CSIRO, Aspendale, VIC, Australia.
Ron
R
Hoeke
VLSCI Life Sciences Computation Centre, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
Gayle K
GK
Philip
Genome Center, University of California, Davis, CA, USA.
Russell Y
RY
Neches
Singapore Centre on Environmental Life Sciences Engineering (SCELSE), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
Daniela I
DI
Drautz-Moses
Singapore Centre on Environmental Life Sciences Engineering (SCELSE), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
Caroline
C
Chénard
Indigo V Expeditions, ONE°15 Marina, #01-01, 11 Cove Drive, Sentosa Cove, Singapore.|Department of Chemistry and Biomolecular Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Ian T
IT
Paulsen
Indigo V Expeditions, ONE°15 Marina, #01-01, 11 Cove Drive, Sentosa Cove, Singapore.|Singapore Centre on Environmental Life Sciences Engineering (SCELSE), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.|Asian School of the Environment, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.|School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Federico M
FM
Lauro
D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D017753:Ecosystem; D019156:Indian Ocean; D054892:Metagenome; D056186:Metagenomics / Q000379:methods; D014871:Water Microbiology