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Latitudinal dynamics of vibrio along the Eastern coastline of Australia

Latitudinal dynamics of vibrio along the Eastern coastline of Australia
Latitudinal dynamics of vibrio along the Eastern coastline of Australia

The marine genus of bacteria, Vibrio, includes several significant human and animal pathogens, highlighting the importance of defining the factors that govern their occurrence in the environment. To determine what controls large-scale spatial patterns among this genus, we examined the abundance and diversity of Vibrio communities along a 4000 km latitudinal gradient spanning the Australian coast. We used a Vibrio-specific amplicon sequencing assay to define Vibrio community diversity, as well as quantitative PCR and digital droplet PCR to identify patterns in the abundances of the human pathogens V. cholera, V. parahaemolyticus and V. vulnificus. The hsp60 amplicon sequencing analysis revealed significant differences in the composition of tropical and temperate Vibrio communities. Over 50% of Vibrio species detected, including the human pathogens V. parahaemolyticus and V. vulnificus, displayed significant correlations with either temperature, salinity, or both, as well as different species of phytoplankton. High levels of V. parahaemolyticus and V. vulnificus were detected in the tropical site at Darwin and the subtropical Gold Coast site, along with high levels of V. parahaemolyticus at the subtropical Sydney site. This study has revealed the key ecological determinants and latitudinal patterns in the abundance and diversity of coastal Vibrio communities, including insights into the distribution of human pathogens, within a region experiencing significant ecological shifts due to climate change.

microbial ecology, Vibrio ecology, Vibrio pathogens, water quality
2073-4441
Williams, Nathan L.R.
7dca1dd0-2b53-413d-8499-f2558158265d
Siboni, Nachshon
cd5ba51e-896e-4b3f-be74-ab136fd96675
King, William L.
0bd4328a-34ba-4b9a-bf4e-1442c18c43fc
Balaraju, Varunan
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Bramucci, Anna
e3f034da-1d71-4572-b51e-eb7c116b6973
Seymour, Justin R.
9b8a8df1-b392-4a9b-a513-54ea4c7172c7
Williams, Nathan L.R.
7dca1dd0-2b53-413d-8499-f2558158265d
Siboni, Nachshon
cd5ba51e-896e-4b3f-be74-ab136fd96675
King, William L.
0bd4328a-34ba-4b9a-bf4e-1442c18c43fc
Balaraju, Varunan
4e46d7e6-1603-4b82-b8e1-37a98344bf7a
Bramucci, Anna
e3f034da-1d71-4572-b51e-eb7c116b6973
Seymour, Justin R.
9b8a8df1-b392-4a9b-a513-54ea4c7172c7

Williams, Nathan L.R., Siboni, Nachshon, King, William L., Balaraju, Varunan, Bramucci, Anna and Seymour, Justin R. (2022) Latitudinal dynamics of vibrio along the Eastern coastline of Australia. Water (Switzerland), 14 (16), [2510]. (doi:10.3390/w14162510).

Record type: Article

Abstract

The marine genus of bacteria, Vibrio, includes several significant human and animal pathogens, highlighting the importance of defining the factors that govern their occurrence in the environment. To determine what controls large-scale spatial patterns among this genus, we examined the abundance and diversity of Vibrio communities along a 4000 km latitudinal gradient spanning the Australian coast. We used a Vibrio-specific amplicon sequencing assay to define Vibrio community diversity, as well as quantitative PCR and digital droplet PCR to identify patterns in the abundances of the human pathogens V. cholera, V. parahaemolyticus and V. vulnificus. The hsp60 amplicon sequencing analysis revealed significant differences in the composition of tropical and temperate Vibrio communities. Over 50% of Vibrio species detected, including the human pathogens V. parahaemolyticus and V. vulnificus, displayed significant correlations with either temperature, salinity, or both, as well as different species of phytoplankton. High levels of V. parahaemolyticus and V. vulnificus were detected in the tropical site at Darwin and the subtropical Gold Coast site, along with high levels of V. parahaemolyticus at the subtropical Sydney site. This study has revealed the key ecological determinants and latitudinal patterns in the abundance and diversity of coastal Vibrio communities, including insights into the distribution of human pathogens, within a region experiencing significant ecological shifts due to climate change.

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More information

Published date: 15 August 2022
Additional Information: Funding Information: This research was supported by an Australian Research Council grant (DP210101610) to J.R.S. We acknowledge the support of multiple team members from the OMG group including James O’Brien and Martin Ostrowski for their help and advice regarding the analysis of the 16S rRNA gene sequencing data. We would also like to acknowledge Anna Padovan and Karren Gibb for their assistance and advice when taking samples in Darwin. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 by the authors.
Keywords: microbial ecology, Vibrio ecology, Vibrio pathogens, water quality

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 486651
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/486651
ISSN: 2073-4441
PURE UUID: c08af69f-bf75-47d7-a8e6-10adf32d64a6
ORCID for William L. King: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-7272-8242

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 30 Jan 2024 17:56
Last modified: 11 Jul 2024 02:17

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Contributors

Author: Nathan L.R. Williams
Author: Nachshon Siboni
Author: William L. King ORCID iD
Author: Varunan Balaraju
Author: Anna Bramucci
Author: Justin R. Seymour

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