Phytoplankton community succession shaping bacterioplankton community composition in Lake Taihu, China

PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) were used to explore the relationship between succession of phytoplankton community and temporal variation of bacterioplankton community composition (BCC) in the eutrophic Lake Taihu. Serious Microcystis bloom was observed in July–December 2008 and Bacillariophyta and Cryptophyta dominated in January–June 2009. BCC was characterized by DGGE of 16S rRNA gene with subsequent sequencing. The DGGE banding patterns revealed a remarkable seasonality which was closely related to phytoplankton community succession. Variation trend of Shannon–Wiener diversity index in bacterioplankton community was similar to that of phytoplankton community. CCA revealed that temperature and phytoplankton played key roles in structuring BCC. Sequencing of DGGE bands suggested that the majority of the sequences were affiliated with common phylogenetic groups in freshwater: Alphaproteobacteria, Betaproteobacteria, Bacteroidetes and Actinobacteria. The cluster STA2-30 (affiliated with Actinobacteria) was found almost across the sampling time at the two study sites. We observed that the family Flavobacteriaceae (affiliated with Bacteroidetes) tightly coupled to diatom bloom and the cluster ML-5-51.2 (affiliated with Actinobacteria) dominated the bacterioplankton communities during Microcystis bloom. These results were quite similar at the two sampling sites, indicating that BCC changes were not random but with fixed pattern. Our study showed insights into relationships between phytoplankton and bacterioplankton communities at species level, facilitating a better understanding of microbial loop and ecosystem functioning in the lake.

► This was the first time to explore the BCC in Gonghu Bay, Lake Taihu. Gonghu Bay provides drinking water of Wuxi city for millions of residents.
► Phytoplankton community succession plays a key role in shaping BCC.
► Specific bacterioplankton taxa coupled to dominant phytoplankton genus were found.
► BCC is bacterioplankton community composition.