Molecular detection of microbial communities associated with Microcystis vs Synechococcus dominated waters in Tianjin,China

Harmful cyanobacterial blooms cause many ecological disasters worldwide. During the development of cyanobacterial blooms, the diversity and domination of cyanobacterial taxa are of a particular concern. In this study, the microbial community structure within a water system, such as in Yuqiao Reservoir and Haihe River in Tianjin City, China, was compared by using next-generation sequencing. A total of 5 001 operational taxonomic units were obtained and clustered from filtered 16 S rDNA V3–V4 region sequences. The cyanobacterial and microbial structures greatly differed in these two water areas. Microcystis was dominant in Yuqiao, whereas Synechococcus was dominant in Haihe. Proteobacteria species were dominant among all detected samples. The relative abundances of Bacteroidetes and Planctomycetes were higher in Yuqiao Reservoir than in Haihe River, whereas Firmicutes and Verrucomicrobia were relatively abundant in Haihe River. Further analyses indicated that the domination of both cyanobacteria was strongly related to several environmental factors, such as total nitrogen, total phosphorus, and dissolved oxygen, reflecting the role of trophic states in shaping the dominance of cyanobacterial taxa. The present study provided the example for Microcystis and Synechococcus dominance along a cyanobacterial bloom in north China. Applying highthroughput sequencing could offer a wide field of vision in analyzing microbial community structures.