Profiling bacterial communities in an oligotrophic limestone cave on the western Loess Plateau of China. terrestrial metagenome

This study investigated the bacterial communities colonized inside Jinjia Cave, a limestone cave in Gansu Province of China. Additional samples included soils overlying the cave. Bacterial 16S rRNA genes were amplified and subjected to 454 pyrosequencing. With this study, we want to address the relationship between microhabitats and bacterial communities, as well as the influences of both subterranean and surface environments on cave bacterial diversity.