Microbial life on a sand grain: from bulk sediment to single sand grains. Life on a sand grain

Globally, marine surface sediments constitute a habitat for estimated 1.7 × 10^26 prokaryotes. For benthic microbial community analysis, usually several grams of sediment are processed. In this study, we made the step from bulk sediments to single sand grains to address the microbial community directly in its micro-habitat: the individual bacterial diversity on 17 sand grains was analyzed by 16S rRNA gene tag sequencing.

全球范围内，据估算海洋表层沉积物为1.7×10^26个原核生物（prokaryote）提供了栖息生境。在底栖微生物群落（benthic microbial community）分析中，常规实验流程通常需处理数克沉积物样品。本研究将研究尺度从整体沉积物（bulk sediments）推进至单粒砂粒，以直接解析其微生境（micro-habitat）中的微生物群落：通过16S rRNA基因标签测序（16S rRNA gene tag sequencing）对17粒砂粒表面的细菌多样性进行了分析。