| Title |
Microeukaryotic Diversity in Marine Environments, an Analysis of Surface Layer Sediments from the East Sea |
| Author |
Soo-Je Park1, Byoung-Joon Park1, Vinh Hoa Pham1, Dae-No Yoon1, Si-Kwan Kim2, and Sung-Keun Rhee1* |
| Address |
1Department of Microbiology, Chungbuk National University, Chungbuk 361-763, Republic of Korea, 2Department of Life Science, College of Biomedical and Health Science, Konkuk University, Chungbuk 380-701, Republic of Korea |
| Bibliography |
Journal of Microbiology, 46(3),244-249, 2008,
|
| DOI |
|
| Key Words |
18S rRNA, marine sediment, microeukaryotic |
| Abstract |
Molecular techniques, based on clone library of 18S rRNA gene, were employed to ascertain the diversity of microeukaryotic organisms in sediments from the East Sea. A total of 261 clones were recovered from surface sediments. Most of the clone sequences (90%) were affiliated with protists, dominated by Ciliates (18%) and Dinoflagellates (19%) of Alveolates, phototrophic Stramenopiles (11%), and Cercozoa (20%). Many of the clones were related to uncultivated eukaryotes clones retrieved from anoxic environments with several highly divergent 18S rRNA gene sequences. However, no clones were related to cultivated obligate anaerobic protists. Protistan communities between subsurface layers of 1 and 9 cm shared 23% of total phylotypes which comprised 64% of total clones retrieved. Analysis of diversity indices and rarefaction curve showed that the protistan community within the 1 cm layer exhibited higher diversity than the 9 cm layer. Our results imply that diverse protists remain to be uncovered within marine benthic environments. |
