Metagenomic analysis of sediments under seaports influence in the Equatorial Atlantic Ocean

• Published in: The Science of the total environment Vol. 557-558; pp. 888 - 900
• Main Authors: Tavares, Tallita Cruz Lopes, Normando, Leonardo Ribeiro Oliveira, de Vasconcelos, Ana Tereza Ribeiro, Gerber, Alexandra Lehmkuhl, Agnez-Lima, Lucymara Fassarella, Melo, Vânia Maria Maciel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01-07-2016
• Subjects: Actinobacteria; Archaea; Archaea - genetics; Atlantic Ocean; Bacteria; Bacteria - genetics; Bacteriodetes; Biodiversity; Cyanobacteria; Deltaproteobacteria; Environmental Monitoring; Euryarchaeota; Firmicutes; Geologic Sediments - chemistry; Geologic Sediments - microbiology; Marine sediments; Metagenome; Metagenomics; Microbiomes; Microbiota; Proteobacteria; Pyrosequencing; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; Seaports; Seawater - microbiology; Water Microbiology; Mexico; AS, Equatorial Atlantic; ASW, Brazil, Pecem; Australia; ASW, Brazil; Seaports; Bacteria; Marine sediments; Archaea; Microbiomes; Pyrosequencing
• ISSN: 0048-9697; 1879-1026
• DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.03.141

Maritime ports are anthropogenic interventions capable of causing serious alterations in coastal ecosystems. In this study, we examined the benthic microbial diversity and community structure under the influence of two maritime ports, Mucuripe (MUC) and Pecém (PEC), at Equatorial Atlantic Ocean in Northeast Brazil. Those seaports differ in architecture, time of functioning, cargo handling and contamination. The microbiomes from MUC and PEC were also compared in silico to 11 other globally distributed marine microbiomes. The comparative analysis of operational taxonomic units (OTUs) retrieved by PCR-DGGE showed that MUC presents greater richness and β diversity of Bacteria and Archaea than PEC. In line with these results, metagenomic analysis showed that MUC and PEC benthic microbial communities share the main common bacterial phyla found in coastal environments, although can be distinguish by greater abundance of Cyanobacteria in MUC and Deltaproteobacteria in PEC. Both ports differed in Archaea composition, being PEC port sediments dominated by Thaumarchaeota. The microbiomes showed little divergence in their potential metabolic pathways, although shifts on the microbial taxonomic signatures involved in nitrogen and sulphur metabolic pathways were observed. The comparative analysis of different benthic marine metagenomes from Brazil, Australia and Mexico grouped them by the geographic location rather than by the type of ecosystem, although at phylum level seaport sediments share a core microbiome constituted by Proteobacteria, Cyanobacteria, Actinobacteria, Tenericuteres, Firmicutes, Bacteriodetes and Euryarchaeota. Our results suggest that multiple physical and chemical factors acting on sediments as a result of at least 60years of port operation play a role in shaping the benthic microbial communities at taxonomic level, but not at functional level.
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•Seaports history of operation and structure could affect benthic microbiomes.•DGGE and metagenomics evidenced taxonomic alterations in the study areas.•Cyanobacteria enrichment seems to be related to the record of oil spills.•Similar metabolic profiles suggest functional redundancy and ecosystem resistance.•In silico analysis pointed regional determinants as key factors for the metagenomes.