the bacterial community associated with ascidian. 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.

已有研究表明，多数海洋无脊椎动物（marine invertebrates）与各类微生物存在紧密共生关联，其共生过程常可产生具备生物医药研究价值的活性化合物。然而，目前针对海鞘（ascidians）的细菌共生关系尚未得到广泛研究。本研究以中国西沙珊瑚礁海域的常见海鞘为研究材料，通过16S rRNA基因的高通量DNA焦磷酸测序（high throughput DNA pyrosequencing）技术，探究了其共生细菌的多样性与群落组成。系统发育分析结果显示，该海鞘的细菌群落以变形菌门（Proteobacteria）为优势类群，其中主要包含α-变形菌纲（Alphaproteobacteria）与γ-变形菌纲（Gammaproteobacteria），其次为拟杆菌门（Bacteroidetes）与绿弯菌门（Chloroflexi）。