Relative abundance of nitrogen cycling microbes in coral holobionts reflects environmental nitrate availability
Type
ArticleAuthors
Tilstra, Arjen
Roth, Florian

El-Khaled, Yusuf C.

Pogoreutz, Claudia

Rädecker, Nils

Voolstra, Christian R.

Wild, Christian

KAUST Department
Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering (BESE) DivisionMarine Science Program
Red Sea Research Center (RSRC)
Reef Genomics Lab
Date
2021-06-02Online Publication Date
2021-06-02Print Publication Date
2021-06Submitted Date
20202-10-15Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/669363
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Show full item recordAbstract
Recent research suggests that nitrogen (N) cycling microbes are important for coral holobiont functioning. In particular, coral holobionts may acquire bioavailable N via prokaryotic dinitrogen (N2) fixation or remove excess N via denitrification activity. However, our understanding of environmental drivers on these processes in hospite remains limited. Employing the strong seasonality of the central Red Sea, this study assessed the effects of environmental parameters on the proportional abundances of N cycling microbes associated with the hard corals Acropora hemprichii and Stylophora pistillata. Specifically, we quantified changes in the relative ratio between nirS and nifH gene copy numbers, as a proxy for seasonal shifts in denitrification and N2 fixation potential in corals, respectively. In addition, we assessed coral tissue-associated Symbiodiniaceae cell densities and monitored environmental parameters to provide a holobiont and environmental context, respectively. While ratios of nirS to nifH gene copy numbers varied between seasons, they revealed similar seasonal patterns in both coral species, with ratios closely following patterns in environmental nitrate availability. Symbiodiniaceae cell densities aligned with environmental nitrate availability, suggesting that the seasonal shifts in nirS to nifH gene abundance ratios were probably driven by nitrate availability in the coral holobiont. Thereby, our results suggest that N cycling in coral holobionts probably adjusts to environmental conditions by increasing and/or decreasing denitrification and N2 fixation potential according to environmental nitrate availability. Microbial N cycling may, thus, extenuate the effects of changes in environmental nitrate availability on coral holobionts to support the maintenance of the coral–Symbiodiniaceae symbiosis.Citation
Tilstra, A., Roth, F., El-Khaled, Y. C., Pogoreutz, C., Rädecker, N., Voolstra, C. R., & Wild, C. (2021). Relative abundance of nitrogen cycling microbes in coral holobionts reflects environmental nitrate availability. Royal Society Open Science, 8(6), 201835. doi:10.1098/rsos.201835Sponsors
We thank KAUST CMOR staff and boat crews for their support with diving operations. We thank Nauras Daraghmeh for his support with re-analysing environmental parameter data.Financial support was provided by KAUST baseline funds to C.R. Voolstra and the German Research Foundation (DFG) grant nos. Wi 2677/9-1 and Wi 2677/16-1 to C.W.
Publisher
The Royal SocietyJournal
Royal Society Open ScienceAdditional Links
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.201835Relations
Is Supplemented By:- [Dataset]
Tilstra, A., Roth, F., El−Khaled, Y. C., Pogoreutz, C., Rädecker, N., Voolstra, C. R., & Wild, C. (2021). Supplementary material from "Relative abundance of nitrogen cycling microbes in coral holobionts reflects environmental nitrate availability". The Royal Society. https://doi.org/10.6084/M9.FIGSHARE.C.5438306. DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.c.5438306 Handle: 10754/686924 - [Dataset]
Tilstra, A., Roth, F., El-Khaled, Y., Pogoreutz, C., Rädecker, N., Wild, C., & Voolstra, C. (2020). Data for: Relative abundance of nitrogen cycling microbes in coral holobionts reflects environmental nitrate availability (Version 5) [Data set]. Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/DRYAD.RJDFN2Z8K. DOI: 10.5061/dryad.rjdfn2z8k Handle: 10754/686924
ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1098/rsos.201835
Scopus Count
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