Bacterial community structure of terrestrial environment near Terra Nova Bay in Victoria Land, Antarctica

Abstract

In this study, we investigated the bacterial community in soil samples collected near the Terra Nova Bay in Victoria Land where the Jang Bogo Research Station will be established. Total 42 terrestrial soil samples with depths of 0-3 cm and 3-10 cm were collected in February of 2011. By the 16S rRNA genes amplicon sequencing using pyrosequencing method, 66,105 sequence reads were obtained and 6,638 OTUs defined by 97% similarity cutoff were detected. Nineteen known divisions and 19 unknown divisions were recognized, where the phyla of Actinobacteria (22.0%), Proteobacteria (13.9%), Acidobacteria (11.0%) and Cyanobacteria (10.8%) were dominant. Interestingly, diverse phylotypes of Cyanobacteria with 190 OTUs out of 6,638 OTUs were detected. Furthermore, the most dominant OTUs were assigned as Nostoc calcicola with 1,341 sequence reads and Microcoleus vaginatus with 1,005 sequence reads, which belonged to the phylum Cyanobacteria.