Biol. Mar. Mediterr.

(2014), 21 (1): 331-332

K.F.A. Abdelrhman, A. Ugolini, M. Schintu*, A. Mengoni

Department of Biology, University of Florence,
Via Madonna del Piano, 6 - 50019 Sesto Fiorentino (FI), Italy.
alessio.mengoni@unifi.it
*Department of Health, Molecular and Clinical Medicine, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy.

EXPLORING THE PATTERN OF SEASONAL DYNAMIC DIVERSITY

OF SARDINIAN SANDY SHORES MICROBIOMES
ESPLORAZIONE DELLE DINAMICHE DI DIVERSIT MICROBICA
STAGIONALE IN MICROBIOMI DI SPIAGGE SABBIOSE SARDE
Abstract - Sandy beaches have an important ecological role as transition zones between land and sea,
but to date have poorly been considered for their microbial communities. Here, we report results from
an analysis of bacterial communities (microbiomes) carried out with a cultivation-indepedent technique,
Terminal-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (T-RFLP), in sandy beaches of Marine Protected
Areas of Sardinia. Data obtained showed that sandy beaches are hosting a considerable bacteria diversity,
which is influenced by seasonal changes. In particular, an increase of diversity in spring compared to
autumn was detected, as well as the presence of several taxa of marine origin. Further analyses will be
necessary to decipher the taxa most affected in relation to the seasonal change and define the functional
activities carried out by the sandy beach microbiome.
Key-words: microbiomes, sandy beaches, T-RFLP, Sardinia.

Introduction - Sandy beaches may be considered as filters that trap biocatalytic

substances of various nature coming from terrestrial and marine environment.
Microorganisms that inhabit marine sediments are possibly involved in the
mineralization of organic matter and degradation of pollutants, also regulate the
balance of various biogeochemical cycles. Despite of their ecological importance few
studies described microbial communities composition (microbiome) of supralittoral
sediments of sandy beaches. Very recently, we showed that supralittoral sediments in
Favignana Island, hold a large bacteria diversity (Bacci et al., in press), which could
in theory be influenced by geographical and seasonal variables. To address this
last issue we investigated the microbiome present in supralittoral sandy sediments
of different Marine Protected Areas of Sardinia (Italy) aiming to describe their
taxonomic composition and the temporal and spatial dynamics.
Materials and methods - 18 different sites in Sardinia were sampled in September
2012, May 2013 and October 2013. DNA was extracted from sand samples by using
Fast-DNA Kit for Soil (QBiogene), and 16S rRNA gene was amplified by using
799f/P6 universal bacterial primers. The taxonomic fingerprint of the microbiome
was defined by applying the Terminal-Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism
(T-RFLP) technique on amplified DNA (Mengoni et al., 2007). Statistical and
bioinformatic analyses were performed as already described (Mengoni et al., 2013).
Results - Obtained results indicate that there are no geographically-related
patterns of microbiome diversity. On the contrary a strong effect of seasonal
dynamics was detected in biodiversity indices (Simpson, Shannon Wiever, Richness
and Evenness indices) with an increase of diversity in late spring compared to late
summer-autumn (up to 2.7 times). Finally, considering the taxonomic composition,
members of phylum Actinobacteria represented 46%. The phylum Protobacteria
represented 37% of total taxa, with a large dominance of members from the classes
of Alphaproteobacteria and Gammaproteobacteria, including several marine taxa as
Oceanosprillales, Halomonadaceae, and Erytrobacteriaceae (Fig. 1).

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K.F.A. Abdelrhman, A. Ugolini, M. Schintu, A. Mengoni

Fig.1-
Representation of the taxonomic composition of Proteobacteria in Sardinian sandy
beaches. The different Proteobacteria classes, orders, and families are reported.
Rappresentazione della composizione tassonomica dei Proteobacteria nelle spiagge sarde con indicate
le famiglie, ordini e classi di Proteobacteria identificati.

Conclusions - A seasonal pattern in the levels of biodiversity was detected, with

a sharp increase in taxonomic richness values in the spring season and a decline
during late summer/autumn, possibly due to corresponding fluctuations of organic
carbon in the sediments in relation to winter and spring storms. Concerning the
taxonomic composition, presence of a large fraction of bacterial taxa related to
the marine environment was found, as well as of ammonia oxidizing taxa, as was
already detected for supralittoral sediments of Favignana Island (Bacci et al., in
press). Further analyses are needed to analyze the taxa most affected in relation
to the seasonal change and define the functional activities carried out by the sandy
beach microbiome.
References
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