Understanding the marine sediment microbial community structure is of increasing importance to microbiologists since little is known of the diverse taxonomy that exists within this environment. Quantifying microbial species distribution patterns within marine sanctuaries is necessary to address conservation requirements. The objectives of this study were to characterize the relative abundance and biodiversity of metagenome samples of the sediment microbial community in the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary (SBNMS). Related to the need for a comprehensive assessment of the microbial habitat within marine sanctuaries is the increased threat of antibiotic-resistant pathogens, coupled with multi-resistant bacterial strains. This has necessitated a renewed search for bioactive compounds in marine benthic habitat. An additional aim was to initiate quantification of biosynthetic gene clusters in species that have potential for natural product and drug discovery relevant to human health. Surficial sediment from 18 samples was collected in the summer and fall of 2017 from three benthic sites in the SBNMS. Microbial DNA was extracted from samples, and sequencing libraries were prepared for taxonomic analysis. Whole metagenome sequencing (WMGS) in combination with a bioinformatics pipeline was employed to delineate the taxa of bacteria present in each sample. Among all sampling sites, biodiversity was higher for summer compared to fall for class (p = 0.0013; F = 4.5) and genus (p = 0.0219; F = 4.4). Actinobacteria was the fifth most abundant class in both seasons (7.81%). Streptomyces was observed to be the fourth most abundant genus in both seasons with significantly higher prevalence in summer compared to fall samples. In summer, site 3 had the highest percentage of Streptomyces (1.71%) compared to sites 2 (1.62%) and 1 (1.37%). The results enabled preliminary quantification of the sequenced hits from the SBNMS sites with the highest potential for harboring secondary metabolite biosynthetic gene clusters for Streptomyces scabrisporus strain (NF3) genomic regions. This study is one of the first to use a whole metagenomics approach to characterize sediment microbial biodiversity in partnership with the SBNMS and demonstrates the potential for future ecological and biomedical research.

了解海洋沉积物微生物群落结构对微生物学家的重要性日益增加，因为对该环境中存在的各种分类法知之甚少。要解决保护要求，必须对海洋保护区内的微生物物种分布模式进行量化。这项研究的目的是表征Stellwagen Bank国家海洋保护区（SBNMS）沉积物微生物群落的基因组样本的相对丰度和生物多样性。与需要对海洋保护区中的微生物栖息地进行全面评估有关的是，抗生素耐药性病原体以及多重耐药菌菌株的威胁不断增加。这就需要重新寻找海洋底栖生境中的生物活性化合物。另一个目标是开始对可能具有与人类健康相关的天然产物和药物发现潜力的物种中的生物合成基因簇进行量化。2017年夏季和秋季，从SBNMS的三个底栖地点收集了18个样品的表面沉积物。从样品中提取微生物DNA，并准备测序文库用于分类学分析。完整的基因组测序（WMGS）与生物信息学管道相结合，用于描绘每个样品中存在的细菌类群。在所有采样点中，夏季的生物多样性要高于秋季的生物多样性（p = 0.0013；2017年夏季和秋季，从SBNMS的三个底栖地点收集了18个样品的表面沉积物。从样品中提取微生物DNA，并准备测序文库用于分类学分析。完整的基因组测序（WMGS）与生物信息学管道相结合，用于描绘每个样品中存在的细菌类群。在所有采样点中，夏季的生物多样性要高于秋季的生物多样性（p = 0.0013；2017年夏季和秋季，从SBNMS的三个底栖地点收集了18个样品的表面沉积物。从样品中提取微生物DNA，并准备测序文库用于分类学分析。完整的基因组测序（WMGS）与生物信息学管道相结合，用于描绘每个样品中存在的细菌类群。在所有采样点中，夏季的生物多样性要高于秋季的生物多样性（p = 0.0013；F  = 4.5）和属（p = 0.0219; F  = 4.4）。放线杆菌是两个季节中第五大最丰富的类别（7.81％）。与两个秋季样本相比，链霉菌是两个季节中第四大最丰富的属，夏季的患病率明显更高。夏季，站点3的链霉菌比例最高（1.71％），而站点2（1.62％）和站点1（1.37％）最高。结果能够对来自SBNMS位点的测序命中进行初步定量，这些序列具有最大的潜力，可隐匿链霉菌的次生代谢产物生物合成基因簇株（NF3）基因组区域。这项研究是与SBNMS合作使用全宏基因组学方法表征沉积物微生物多样性的首批研究之一，并展示了未来生态和生物医学研究的潜力。