Abstract:

Little is known about the mechanisms that regulate the assembly of microbial communities in the river-sea continuum. Here, we performed HiSeq paired-end sequencing of the V4 region of 18S rRNA gene, using both DNA and RNA extracts, to identify protist communities in the surface and bottom water layers along a transect of the Pearl River-South China Sea Continuum (PSC) during the wet (summer) and dry (winter) seasons. We found that during the summer but not during the winter, protist communities, identified from their DNA or RNA signatures, could be better explained by mass effects and species sorting, respectively. Moreover, protist diversity in the DNA and RNA surveys, exhibited similar trends along the transect; i.e., a linear upstream-to-downstream decrease during the summer, and a weakly U-shaped curve during the winter. In contrast, the taxonomic compositions in the DNA- and RNA-derived communities were remarkably different during either the summer or the winter. In summary, the results of our DNA and RNA surveys revealed the temporal assembly of protist communities in the PSC, which suggests that protist diversity and composition are highly responsive to the hydrographic conditions of the river-sea continuum.

Bio:

吴文学，副教授，2018年中山大学“百人计划”引进人才。2014年毕业于厦门大学环境与生态学院、并获理学博士学位，之后分别在台湾大学海洋研究所（2014–2016）、香港科技大学生命学部（2017–2018）从事博士后研究。目前主要研究兴趣聚焦在海洋微生物多样性、分布模式及其群落构建机制。近年来，其相关研究成果陆续（以第一作者）发表于The ISME Journal、Molecular Ecology、Environmental Microbiology、FEMS Microbiology Ecology等微生物生态学主流期刊。