Prokaryotic co-occurrence patterns in diverse Indian mangrove ecosystems

Mangrove ecosystems are unique coastal zones known to harbour a rich biodiversity of flora and fauna, including microbial communities. These microorganisms play a crucial role in nutrient cycling and sustain the primary productivity driven by plants within this ecosystem. Recent advancements in microbial ecology research emphasise that microbial community structure and composition are critical for an ecosystem to thrive. Studies have focused on the microbial diversity within Indian mangrove forests; however, there is a limited understanding of the co-occurrence patterns and functional roles of microbial communities in these ecosystems. This study explores prokaryotic diversity, primarily focusing on community interactions across three major Indian mangrove forests: the Bhitarkanika mangrove forest in Odisha, the Goan mangroves, and the Sundarbans in West Bengal. By analysing the publicly available 16 S rRNA amplicon datasets of the Indian mangrove microbiomes and performing co-occurrence network analysis on these datasets, we identified positively correlated genera and their predicted functional roles. Furthermore, the findings revealed the co-occurrence of several pathogenic bacteria in two of the mangrove ecosystems. Overall, our study highlights the shared functional roles adopted by co-occurring microbes in three major Indian mangrove ecosystems and suggests the need for large-scale studies in these understudied Indian ecosystems.