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.