16S Metagenomics Analysis of Microbial Communities Associated with Marine Tunicates from Coral Reefs in Pulau Bidong, South China Sea

Microbial diversity has been well documented for many marine invertebrate taxa. However, little attention has been given to the examination of microbes and tunicates associations. In the present study, the microbial diversity of marine tunicates was assessed by using 16S metagenomics approach. Two species of tunicates found in coral reefs from Pulau Bidong, Terengganu were collected during pre monsoon and post monsoon seasons. Amplification of full length 16S rRNA gene was then carried out. The amplicons were used as template to amplify the V3 region before subjected to 16S metagenomic sequencing. The sequences were trimmed, assembled and classified. The results indicated that Didemnum harbored more diverse microbiota than Clavelina during pre monsoon season. In comparison, more diverse bacterial community was found during post monsoon season than pre monsoon season. Overall, the present study indicated that changes of bacterial diversity associated with tunicates could be influenced by monsoon. This information has provided us some insights into the bacteria tunicate interactions.