Epiphytic bacterial community analysis of the macroalgae Gongolaria barbata collected from the Sinop region on the Black Sea coast

The purpose of this study was to ascertain the epiphytic bacterial community structure of macroalgae Gongolaria barbata (Stackhouse) Kuntze samples taken from seawater using Single Strand Conformation Polymorphism (SSCP) analysis. It also aims to quickly obtain information regarding the composition of communities and the quality of the seawater. G. barbata samples were subjected to total DNA extraction, SSCP analysis was conducted with a focus on the V4-V5 region of 16S rRNA, and the bacterial community structure was determined through sequence analysis of a few chosen bands. Upon analyzing the SSCP gel picture and dendrogram, it was seen that the bacterial community structure on the macroalgae varied based on the location as well as within the same species. It was noted that the Gammaproteobacteria class accounted for 84.375 percent of the bands that were acquired from the SSCP analysis. The fact that the sequencing data generated from the bands collected at various points largely resembled Vibrio and Klebsiella genera was notable. This situation highlights the strong link between harmful or opportunistic infectious organisms and macroalgae species, several of which have been suggested for ingestion as food. Furthermore, even if research in the literature suggests that the macroalgae and the microbial load of the nearby water sample do not significantly correlate, we can conclude that this data suggests the possibility of risk.