Functional filtering and random processes affect the assembly of microbial communities of snow algae blooms at Maritime Antarctic

The increasing temperatures at the West Antarctic Peninsula would lead to a higher occurrence of snow algae blooms along with greater variability in the coverage, permanence, and physic-chemical characteristics of snow. Using metabarcoding of 16S and 18S rRNA we analyzed 43 snow samples collected at Maritime Antarctica to compare the community structure across three sampling sites. Also, 28 paired-end metagenomes (Illumina) were used to compare the functional structure (predicted genes abundance) of the snow algae and associated bacteria among sites.

西南极半岛（West Antarctic Peninsula）的气温持续升高，将导致雪藻水华的发生频率提升，同时积雪的覆盖范围、存续时长及理化特性的变异程度也会显著增大。本研究采用16S与18S rRNA宏条形码（metabarcoding）技术，对采集自海洋性南极（Maritime Antarctica）的43份积雪样本进行测序分析，以对比3个采样点间的微生物群落结构差异。此外，本研究还利用28组Illumina平台双端宏基因组（paired-end metagenomes）数据，对比了不同采样点下雪藻及其共生细菌的功能结构（即预测基因丰度）。