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Characterization of Bacterial Communities in Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vents from Three Oceanic Regions

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Abstract

Deep-sea hydrothermal vents are considered to be one of the most spectacular ecosystems on Earth. Microorganisms form the basis of the food chain in vents controlling the vent communities. However, the diversity of bacterial communities in deep-sea hydrothermal vents from different oceans remains largely unknown. In this study, the pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA gene was used to characterize the bacterial communities of the venting sulfide, seawater, and tubeworm trophosome from East Pacific Rise, South Atlantic Ridge, and Southwest Indian Ridge, respectively. A total of 23,767 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were assigned into 42 different phyla. Although Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Bacteroidetes were the predominant phyla in all vents, differences of bacterial diversity were observed among different vents from three oceanic regions. The sulfides of East Pacific Rise possessed the most diverse bacterial communities. The bacterial diversities of venting seawater were much lower than those of vent sulfides. The symbiotic bacteria of tubeworm Ridgeia piscesae were included in the bacterial community of vent sulfides, suggesting their significant ecological functions as the primary producers in the deep-sea hydrothermal vent ecosystems. Therefore, our study presented a comprehensive view of bacterial communities in deep-sea hydrothermal vents from different oceans.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the Hi-Tech Research and Development Program of China (2012AA092103-5), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41276152), and the China Ocean Mineral Resources R & D Association (DY125-15-E-01).

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  1. Key Laboratory of Conservation Biology for Endangered Wildlife of the Ministry of Education and College of Life Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, People’s Republic of China

    Tianliang He & Xiaobo Zhang

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  1. Tianliang He
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  2. Xiaobo Zhang
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Correspondence to Xiaobo Zhang.

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He, T., Zhang, X. Characterization of Bacterial Communities in Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vents from Three Oceanic Regions. Mar Biotechnol 18, 232–241 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10126-015-9683-3

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