Inferences of gut bacterial diversity from next-generation sequencing of 16S rDNA in deep sea blind ray - Benthobatis moresbyi

The complex polymicrobial physiology of the fish gut, 'worlds within worlds' are governed by various factors. Taxonomic profiling of fish gut microflora through metagenomics approach has not received much attention to date. The present study explored the gut microbiota composition of Benthobatis moresbyi, sampled from the Arabian Sea and compared it to the existing metagenomic datasets. V3 region of 16S rRNA gene was amplified from metagenomic DNA and sequenced on Illumina MiSeq system. Taxonomic classification was done at various levels. Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria and Acidobacteria were the predominant phyla, in stark contrast to human and other gut microbiomes. Alphaproteobacteria and Actinomycetales were the predominant classes. Acidobacteriales and Solibacterales were dominant in the phylum Acidobacteria. Comparison of the taxonomic distribution of Benthobatis moresbyi gut microflora to other metagenomic datasets in MG-RAST metagenomics analysis server revealed more similarity to the microbiota of various ocean depths rather than guts of other terrestrial animals.