4.4. Potential biogeochemical genes of CAB and their variation
and abundance
Bacterial communities exploit copepods as microhabitat by colonising
copepods’ internal and external surfaces and mediate marine
biogeochemical processes [9]. CAB also metabolise
organic compounds such as chitin, taurine and other complex molecules in
and around the copepod, which could be a hot spot for the biogeochemical
process [9]. In one of earlier analysis, potential
functional genes in the water column of the Southern Ocean was processed
using Parallel-Meta3 software [52], but herein we
have used a much advanced PICRUSt2 analysis to screen for the potential
functional genes.