Reconstruction of the genomes of the dominant bacterial community members of Veerse Meer marine biofilm and Gent campus Sterre plant-soil

Complex interactions between microalgae and bacteria, such as mutualism, parasitism and competition, shape the structure and functioning of photosynthetic microbial mats. Using experimental co-cultures, we aimed at obtaining a better understanding of the interactions and exchanges that underlie the association between the marine benthic diatom Seminavis robusta (SR) and bacteria that were recruited from two very different bacterial inocula, one from the brackish lagoon Veerse Meer (The Netherlands), the natural habitat of SR, and a second from a forest soil sample, an alien environment to SR. Metagenomics was used to reconstruct the genomes of the dominant members from the bacterial communities in both environments.