the bacterial community associated with ascidian

Recent studies have revealed that many marine invertebrates are closely associated with diverse microorganisms, frequently resulting in the production of compounds of biomedical interest. however, ascidians have not been widely examined for the presence of bacterial associations. In this study, we explored the bacterial diversity and composition associated with a common ascidian from Xisha coral reef, China using high throughput DNA pyrosequencing of the 16S rRNA gene. Phylogenetic analysis showed that bacterial communities from the ascidian were dominated by Proteobacteria (mostly Alphaproteobacteria and Gammaproteobacteria), followed by Bacteroidetes and Chloroflexi.