Metagenomics of Water Column Microbes Near Brine Pool NR1 and adjacent regions of the Northern Gulf of Mexico Collected in Fall 2009
Abstract
High-throughput sequencing was applied to eight water column samples collected from the Gulf of Mexico in 2009 in regions SW and west of the 2010 Macondo oil spill. Samples were collected by Niskin-equipped CTD (~200 and ~650 m depths) at two locations, including a site over a methane brine pool (Brine Pool NR1). In addition, seawater was collected ~3m lateral of the pool (649m depth) via Niskin bottle equipped on the Johnson-Sea-Link submersible. Unassembled reads were submitted to the Synthetic Genomics bioinformatics pipeline for taxonomic analysis. The distribution of Bacteria (56-73%), Archae (7-16%), Eukaryotes (12-23%), and unclassified sequences (6-10%) were similar for all samples. However, certain taxonomic classifications were relatively more abundant in deeper samples, and differences were noted for samples collected by submersible. For example, Methylophaga was classified as 38% of the order Thiotrichales for the Niskin/submersible sample compared to 0% in the 200m-depth samples and 3-11% in the 650m samples. Methylophaga is a genus of indigenous methylotrophs reported to respond during the Deepwater Horizon event of 2010. In contrast, sequence abundance for Oceanospirillales, also reported to respond during the event, was similar for all samples (6-9% of the gamma-proteobacteria).
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2012
- Bibcode:
- 2012AGUFMOS13C1755W
- Keywords:
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- 4840 OCEANOGRAPHY: BIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL / Microbiology and microbial ecology