Nereis succinea, as an important benthic worm widely distributed in the sediment and tidal flat ecosystems of estuaries, not only improves the water body bottom environment but also regulates the biogeochemical cycle of the benthic ecosystem in coastal area. The gut microbial community of invertebrates is essential for their physiological functions and closely related with environmental changes. Currently, there is limited knowledge on the diversity of gut microbes in N. succinea. Here we employ the 16S rRNA amplicon to conduct a systematic survey of the gut microbial communities in N. succinea collected from different habitats, Xiamen Wuyuan Bay and Hainan Li'an seagrass lagoon.
The results of this study are summarized as follows: (1) the phylum Proteobacteria and the genus Acinetobacter constitute the dominant groups of gut microbiome; (2) the microbial community of N. succinea in Xiamen Wuyuan Bay shows the higher diversity and has significant differences compared to those of Hainan Li'an lagoon; (3) predicted function analysis of microbial community shows metabolic pathways associated with biosynthesis, transportation, and decomposition of secondary metabolic products are dominate. These results further our understanding of the gut microbial community diversity and ecological function of N. succinea with the respect to the biogeochemical cycle mediated by benthic organisms in coastal ecosystem.

Nereis succinea,gut microbiota,diversity analysis