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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Extreme Microbiology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2024.1463144
This article is part of the Research Topic Extremophiles: Environmental Adaptation Mechanisms, Modification to Synthetic Biology, and Industrial Application View all 3 articles

New insights into the structure and function of microbial communities in

Provisionally accepted
Zheng Wang Zheng Wang 1Zhiwei Gao Zhiwei Gao 1Yong Yu Yong Yu 1Huirong Li Huirong Li 1Wei Luo Wei Luo 1Zhongqiang Ji Zhongqiang Ji 2Haitao Ding Haitao Ding 1*
  • 1 Polar Research Institute of China, Shanghai, China
  • 2 Key Laboratory of Marine Ecosystem and Biogeochemistry, Second Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The microbial communities inhabiting polar ecosystems, particularly in Maxwell Bay, Antarctica, play a pivotal role in nutrient cycling and ecosystem dynamics. However, the diversity of these microbial communities remains underexplored. In this study, we aim to address this gap by investigating the distribution, environmental drivers, and metabolic potential of microorganisms in Maxwell Bay. We analyzed the prokaryotic and eukaryotic microbiota at 11 stations, revealing distinctive community structures and diverse phylum dominance by using high-throughput sequencing. Spatial analysis revealed a significant impact of longitude on microbial communities, with microeukaryotes exhibiting greater sensitivity to spatial factors than microprokaryotes. We constructed co-occurrence networks to explore the stability of microbial communities, indicating the complexity and stability of microprokaryotic communities compared with those of microeukaryotes. Our findings suggest that the microeukaryotic communities in Maxwell Bay are more susceptible to disturbances.Additionally, this study revealed the spatial correlations between microbial communities, diversity, and environmental variables. Redundancy analysis highlighted the significance of pH and dissolved oxygen in shaping microprokaryotic and microeukaryotic communities, indicating the anthropogenic influence near the scientific research stations. Functional predictions using Tax4Fun2 and FUNGuild revealed the metabolic potential and trophic modes of the microprokaryotic and microeukaryotic communities, respectively. Finally, this study provides novel insights into the microbial ecology of Maxwell Bay, expanding the understanding of polar microbiomes and their responses to environmental factors.

    Keywords: diversity, distribution, ecosystems, environmental factors, Potential function

    Received: 11 Jul 2024; Accepted: 23 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Wang, Gao, Yu, Li, Luo, Ji and Ding. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Haitao Ding, Polar Research Institute of China, Shanghai, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.