Bacterial and fungal diversity in sediment and water column from the abyssal regions of the Indian Ocean

Abstract

The deep sea is the largest environment on Earth, comprising important resources of commercial interest. It is composed of a wide variety of ecosystems, which is home to often unique organisms that are yet to be described. The deep-sea is one of the least studied environments, where research is strongly linked to technological access and advances. With the recent advances in the next-generation sequencing and bioinformatic tools, there is an enhanced understanding of microbial diversity and ecological functions in deep sea. Multidisciplinary programmes are being undertaken to investigate into microbial communities in diverse marine environments. As compared to other Oceans, the deeper parts of Indian Ocean are still poorly sampled and studied for bacterial, and more so fungal diversity. The studies reporting usage of modern sequencing tools to describe uncultured microbial diversity have seen a rise in numbers in the last decade. In this review, we summarize the important findings of research works carried on bacterial and fungal diversity from the abyssal regions of the Indian Ocean and provide our views on possible future paths.