Metagenomic analysis of the marine coastal invertebrates of South Korea as assessed by Ilumina MiSeq

Metagenomic analysis was carried out for the first time on the marine coastal invertebrates of South Korea. Samples collected from coastal areas of Korea were filtered through a 63 µm mesh, then their 18S rDNA V4 regions were amplified. High-throughput sequencing of PCR amplicons using Illumina MiSeq and BLAST against the SILVA database showed that a total of 319 eukaryotic Operational Taxonomic Units were identified at the species level. Annelida, Arthropoda, Mollusca, Nematoda, and Platyhelminthes and for 92.23% of the total 103 metazoan species belonging to 101 genera, 75 families, and 10 phyla. Of these, several taxa previously unreported to exist in Korea were detected at the family level compared with the integrated database from three main Korean biodiversity DBs (MABIK, KOMBIS, and MRBR). Analysis of beta diversity of the community structure of invertebrates indicated that the composition of marine invertebrates is likely to be affected by habitat type rather than geographical distance. The present study showed that metagenomic high-throughput technology can be used to unravel species diversity and for various studies regarding marine invertebrate community structure.