Molecular Approaches to Explore Coastal Benthic Metazoan Diversity—Success and Constraints

Abstract

Coastal environments are represented by rich biotopes and harbour diverse organismal groups, many of which are yet to be explored. The metazoan phyla found in the sediment of coastal environments are critical to ecosys- tem functioning. The abundance and diversity of benthic metazoan phyla such as the free-living marine nematodes in various coastal biotopes are not fully under- stood from the viewpoint of biodiversity. Molecular tools such as next-generation sequencing (NGS) approach offer a way to develop robust metabarcodes. Generation and processing of NGS data including metabarcode sequences involve computational understanding. Metabarcodes obtained using NGS platforms are providing improved understanding of biodiversity-rich sedimentary metazoan groups such as free-living marine nematodes. Some of these aspects in terms of NGS platforms, data processing and examples of application of NGS to explore benthic metazoan diversity with focus on free-living nematode communities have been discussed