Coral microbiome composition along the northern Red Sea suggests high plasticity of bacterial and specificity of endosymbiotic dinoflagellate communities
Type
ArticleAuthors
Osman, Eslam O.
Suggett, David J.

Voolstra, Christian R.

Pettay, D. Tye
Clark, Dave R.

Pogoreutz, Claudia

Sampayo, Eugenia M.

Warner, Mark E.

Smith, David J.

KAUST Department
Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering (BESE) DivisionMarine Science Program
Red Sea Research Center (RSRC)
Reef Genomics Lab
Date
2020-02-06Online Publication Date
2020-02-06Print Publication Date
2020-12Submitted Date
2019-01-10Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/661436
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BACKGROUND: The capacity of reef-building corals to tolerate (or adapt to) heat stress is a key factor determining their resilience to future climate change. Changes in coral microbiome composition (particularly for microalgal endosymbionts and bacteria) is a potential mechanism that may assist corals to thrive in warm waters. The northern Red Sea experiences extreme temperatures anomalies, yet corals in this area rarely bleach suggesting possible refugia to climate change. However, the coral microbiome composition, and how it relates to the capacity to thrive in warm waters in this region, is entirely unknown. RESULTS: We investigated microbiomes for six coral species (Porites nodifera, Favia favus, Pocillopora damicornis, Seriatopora hystrix, Xenia umbellata, and Sarcophyton trocheliophorum) from five sites in the northern Red Sea spanning 4° of latitude and summer mean temperature ranges from 26.6 °C to 29.3 °C. A total of 19 distinct dinoflagellate endosymbionts were identified as belonging to three genera in the family Symbiodiniaceae (Symbiodinium, Cladocopium, and Durusdinium). Of these, 86% belonged to the genus Cladocopium, with notably five novel types (19%). The endosymbiont community showed a high degree of host-specificity despite the latitudinal gradient. In contrast, the diversity and composition of bacterial communities of the surface mucus layer (SML)-a compartment particularly sensitive to environmental change-varied significantly between sites, however for any given coral was species-specific. CONCLUSION: The conserved endosymbiotic community suggests high physiological plasticity to support holobiont productivity across the different latitudinal regimes. Further, the presence of five novel algal endosymbionts suggests selection of certain genotypes (or genetic adaptation) within the semi-isolated Red Sea. In contrast, the dynamic composition of bacteria associated with the SML across sites may contribute to holobiont function and broaden the ecological niche. In doing so, SML bacterial communities may aid holobiont local acclimatization (or adaptation) by readily responding to changes in the host environment. Our study provides novel insight about the selective and endemic nature of coral microbiomes along the northern Red Sea refugia.Citation
Osman, E. O., Suggett, D. J., Voolstra, C. R., Pettay, D. T., Clark, D. R., Pogoreutz, C., … Smith, D. J. (2020). Coral microbiome composition along the northern Red Sea suggests high plasticity of bacterial and specificity of endosymbiotic dinoflagellate communities. Microbiome, 8(1). doi:10.1186/s40168-019-0776-5Sponsors
This work is primarily funded by Egyptian Ministry of Higher Education, Cultural Affairs and Missions Sector, PhD grant to E.O. Osman. Also, the contribution of D.J. Suggett was funded through an Australian Research Council Discovery Project (DP160100271). Research was further supported by baseline funds to C.R. Voolstra from the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) and funds to M.E. Warner by the National Science Foundation (grant no.1258065 and 1635695).Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLCJournal
MicrobiomeAdditional Links
https://microbiomejournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40168-019-0776-5https://microbiomejournal.biomedcentral.com/track/pdf/10.1186/s40168-019-0776-5
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Eslam Osman, Suggett, D., Voolstra, C., D. Pettay, Clark, D., Pogoreutz, C., Sampayo, E., Warner, M., & Smith, D. (2020). Coral microbiome composition along the northern Red Sea suggests high plasticity of bacterial and specificity of endosymbiotic dinoflagellate communities. figshare. https://doi.org/10.6084/M9.FIGSHARE.C.4840233. DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4840233 Handle: 10754/665168
ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1186/s40168-019-0776-5
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