@article{TEXTUAL,
      recid = {8423},
      author = {Pfister, Catherine A. and Meyer, Folker and Antonopoulos,  Dionysios A.},
      title = {Metagenomic Profiling of a Microbial Assemblage Associated  with the California Mussel: A Node in Networks of Carbon  and Nitrogen Cycling},
      journal = {PLOS ONE},
      address = {2010-05-06},
      number = {TEXTUAL},
      abstract = {<p>Mussels are conspicuous and often abundant members of  rocky shores and may constitute an important site for the  nitrogen cycle due to their feeding and excretion  activities. We used shotgun metagenomics of the microbial  community associated with the surface of mussels  (<em>Mytilus californianus</em>) on Tatoosh Island in  Washington state to test whether there is a nitrogen-based  microbial assemblage associated with mussels. Analyses of  both tidepool mussels and those on emergent benches  revealed a diverse community of Bacteria and Archaea with  approximately 31 million bp from 6 mussels in each habitat.  Using MG-RAST, between 22.5–25.6% were identifiable using  the SEED non-redundant database for proteins. Of those  fragments that were identifiable through MG-RAST, the  composition was dominated by Cyanobacteria and Alpha- and  Gamma-proteobacteria. Microbial composition was highly  similar between the tidepool and emergent bench mussels,  suggesting similar functions across these different  microhabitats. One percent of the proteins identified in  each sample were related to nitrogen cycling. When  normalized to protein discovery rate, the high diversity  and abundance of enzymes related to the nitrogen cycle in  mussel-associated microbes is as great or greater than that  described for other marine metagenomes. In some instances,  the nitrogen-utilizing profile of this assemblage was more  concordant with soil metagenomes in the Midwestern U.S.  than for open ocean system. Carbon fixation and Calvin  cycle enzymes further represented 0.65 and 1.26% of all  proteins and their abundance was comparable to a number of  open ocean marine metagenomes. In sum, the diversity and  abundance of nitrogen and carbon cycle related enzymes in  the microbes occupying the shells of <em>Mytilus  californianus</em> suggest these mussels provide a node for  microbial populations and thus biogeochemical  processes.</p>},
      url = {http://knowledge.uchicago.edu/record/8423},
}