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jbenevento · 2 years ago

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Abstract

Abundance and Diversity of Oyster Microbiomes from Seven Sites in the Hudson River Estuary

The eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginicia) is an important keystone and indicator species that inhabits marine ecosystems. However, the past few decades have raised concern regarding the anthropogenic impact on oyster populations. This study investigates the pathogens present within oyster microbiomes at different restoration stations in New York and New Jersey that possess varying environmental conditions such as sediment type, water temperature, and ecosystem type. Oysters were collected at the monitoring stations and stored in a freezer at -80° C until DNA extraction was conducted. Oysters were shucked to collect their tissues and either the phenol-chloroform protocol or the E.Z.N.A. Mollusc DNA Kit (Omega Bio-Tek) was utilized. The full length bacterial ribosomal RNA gene was amplified by PCR and confirmed by gel electrophoresis. Amplicons were sequenced on a Nanopore MinION according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Sequences were quality filtered and taxonomic identification was made using MIrROR (Microbial Identification using rRNA Operon Region; Seol et al. 2022). Oysters found in sandy sediment located near bays during October of 2021 had a low total reads as opposed to other areas. Using Shannon’s Diversity Index, oyster microbiomes from lagoons with muddy sediment exhibited a low species diversity despite a high read count. This may have resulted from little circulation in the water leading to minimal diversity. These findings suggest that certain environmental conditions may influence oyster microbiome health. Future research could investigate other environmental parameters such as pH, turbidity, and oxygen concentration of water.

Keywords: eastern oyster, environmental conditions, anthropogenic impact, microbiome, Shannon’s Diversity Index

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