Prokaryotic community structure in the deep Southwest Indian Ocean with an emphasis on actinobacteria Targeted Locus (Loci)

Knowledge about the biodiversity extent and biogeography of deep-sea microorganisms is far from adequate. Due to its remote location, the related investigations of the Southwest Indian Ocean (SWIR) remaine extremely difficult and the microbial diversity at the SWIR has rarely been studied. Only two studies got limited numbers of 16S rRNA gene sequences, and much more in-depth sequencing efforts to evaluate the abundance and diversity of prokaryotes at the SWIR are still needed. In this study, pyrosequencing was used to investigate the community structure and biogeography of prokaryotes, especially actinobacteria, in the deep SWIR. It also identified the factors in contributing to the distribution of the prokaryotes and actinobacteria, the historical contingencies, contemporary environmental factors, or both? The results would provide further insights on the prokaryotic, especially actinobacterial community structure at the SWIR and help to understand the underling mechanisms of the microbial distribution in the deep ocean. To our knowledge, this is the first report on the biodiversity and biogeography of actinobacteria at the SWIR.