Coral microbiome manipulation elicits metabolic and genetic restructuring to mitigate heat stress and evade mortality
Type
ArticleAuthors
Santoro, Erika P.
Borges, Ricardo M.

Espinoza, Josh L.

Freire, Marcelo

Messias, Camila S. M. A.

Villela, Helena D. M.
Pereira, Leandro M.

Vilela, Caren L. S.

Rosado, João G.

Cardoso, Pedro M.

Rosado, Phillipe M.

Assis, Juliana M.

Duarte, Gustavo A. S.

Perna, Gabriela

Rosado, Alexandre S.

Macrae, Andrew

Dupont, Christopher L.

Nelson, Karen E.
Sweet, Michael

Voolstra, Christian R.

Peixoto, Raquel S

KAUST Department
Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering (BESE) DivisionDivision of Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering (BESE), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.
Environmental Science and Engineering Program
Marine Science Program
Red Sea Research Center (RSRC)
Red Sea Research Center (RSRC), Division of Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering (BESE), King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia.
Reef Genomics Lab
KAUST Grant Number
BAS/1/1095-01-01Date
2021-08-13Online Publication Date
2021-08-13Print Publication Date
2021-08Submitted Date
2020-12-23Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/670602
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Beneficial microorganisms for corals (BMCs) ameliorate environmental stress, but whether they can prevent mortality and the underlying host response mechanisms remains elusive. Here, we conducted omics analyses on the coral Mussismilia hispida exposed to bleaching conditions in a long-term mesocosm experiment and inoculated with a selected BMC consortium or a saline solution placebo. All corals were affected by heat stress, but the observed “post-heat stress disorder” was mitigated by BMCs, signified by patterns of dimethylsulfoniopropionate degradation, lipid maintenance, and coral host transcriptional reprogramming of cellular restructuration, repair, stress protection, and immune genes, concomitant with a 40% survival rate increase and stable photosynthetic performance by the endosymbiotic algae. This study provides insights into the responses that underlie probiotic host manipulation. We demonstrate that BMCs trigger a dynamic microbiome restructuring process that instigates genetic and metabolic alterations in the coral host that eventually mitigate coral bleaching and mortality.Citation
Santoro, E. P., Borges, R. M., Espinoza, J. L., Freire, M., Messias, C. S. M. A., Villela, H. D. M., … Peixoto, R. S. (2021). Coral microbiome manipulation elicits metabolic and genetic restructuring to mitigate heat stress and evade mortality. Science Advances, 7(33), eabg3088. doi:10.1126/sciadv.abg3088Sponsors
This research project won the Great Barrier Reef Foundation’s Out of the Blue Box Reef Innovation Challenge People’s Choice Award supported by The Tiffany & Co.Foundation. C.R.V. was supported through the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG; German Research Foundation) Project Numbers 433042944 and 458901010. R.S.P. was supported through KAUST grant number BAS/1/1095-01-01 and the Rio de Janeiro Marine Aquarium Research Center. E.P.S. received support from the Graduate Programs of Science (Microbiology) and Plant Biotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering (PBV)/Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, the Brazilian Government Research Agency CAPES, and the CAPES PRINT international mobility grant.Journal
Science AdvancesAdditional Links
https://advances.sciencemag.org/lookup/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abg3088ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1126/sciadv.abg3088
Scopus Count
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