The microbial biosphere of the coral Acropora cervicornis in Northeastern Puerto Rico
Background Coral reefs are the most biodiverse ecosystems in the marine realm, and they not only contribute a plethora of ecosystem services to other marine organisms, but they also are beneficial to humankind via, for instance, their role as nurseries for commercially important fish species. Corals...
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| Format: | Article |
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PeerJ Inc.
2017-08-01
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| Series: | PeerJ |
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| Online Access: | https://peerj.com/articles/3717.pdf |
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| author | Filipa Godoy-Vitorino Claudia P. Ruiz-Diaz Abigail Rivera-Seda Juan S. Ramírez-Lugo Carlos Toledo-Hernández |
| author_facet | Filipa Godoy-Vitorino Claudia P. Ruiz-Diaz Abigail Rivera-Seda Juan S. Ramírez-Lugo Carlos Toledo-Hernández |
| author_sort | Filipa Godoy-Vitorino |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background Coral reefs are the most biodiverse ecosystems in the marine realm, and they not only contribute a plethora of ecosystem services to other marine organisms, but they also are beneficial to humankind via, for instance, their role as nurseries for commercially important fish species. Corals are considered holobionts (host + symbionts) since they are composed not only of coral polyps, but also algae, other microbial eukaryotes and prokaryotes. In recent years, Caribbean reef corals, including the once-common scleractinian coral Acropora cervicornis, have suffered unprecedented mortality due to climate change-related stressors. Unfortunately, our basic knowledge of the molecular ecophysiology of reef corals, particularly with respect to their complex bacterial microbiota, is currently too poor to project how climate change will affect this species. For instance, we do not know how light influences microbial communities of A. cervicornis, arguably the most endangered of all Caribbean coral species. To this end, we characterized the microbiota of A. cervicornis inhabiting water depths with different light regimes. Methods Six A. cervicornis fragments from different individuals were collected at two different depths (three at 1.5 m and three at 11 m) from a reef 3.2 km off the northeastern coast of Puerto Rico. We characterized the microbial communities by sequencing the 16S rRNA gene region V4 with the Illumina platform. Results A total of 173,137 good-quality sequences were binned into 803 OTUs with a 97% similarity. We uncovered eight bacterial phyla at both depths with a dominance of 725 Rickettsiales OTUs (Proteobacteria). A fewer number (38) of low dominance OTUs varied by depth and taxa enriched in shallow water corals included Proteobacteria (e.g. Rhodobacteraceae and Serratia) and Firmicutes (Streptococcus). Those enriched in deeper water corals featured different Proteobacterial taxa (Campylobacterales and Bradyrhizobium) and Firmicutes (Lactobacillus). Discussion Our results confirm that the microbiota of A. cervicornis inhabiting the northeastern region of Puerto Rico is dominated by a Rickettsiales-like bacterium and that there are significant changes in less dominant taxa at different water depths. These changes in less dominant taxa may potentially impact the coral’s physiology, particularly with respect to its ability to respond to future increases in temperature and CO2. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T07:23:40Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1d2121b6399141af977cdb0a7b296f13 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2167-8359 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T07:23:40Z |
| publishDate | 2017-08-01 |
| publisher | PeerJ Inc. |
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| spelling | doaj.art-1d2121b6399141af977cdb0a7b296f132023-12-03T07:10:00ZengPeerJ Inc.PeerJ2167-83592017-08-015e371710.7717/peerj.3717The microbial biosphere of the coral Acropora cervicornis in Northeastern Puerto RicoFilipa Godoy-Vitorino0Claudia P. Ruiz-Diaz1Abigail Rivera-Seda2Juan S. Ramírez-Lugo3Carlos Toledo-Hernández4Department of Natural Sciences, Microbial Ecology and Genomics Lab, Inter American University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, PR, USADepartment of Environmental Sciences, University of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras Campus, San Juan, PR, USADepartment of Natural Sciences, Microbial Ecology and Genomics Lab, Inter American University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, PR, USADepartment of Biology, University of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras Campus, San Juan, PR, USASociedad Ambiente Marino, San Juan, PR, USABackground Coral reefs are the most biodiverse ecosystems in the marine realm, and they not only contribute a plethora of ecosystem services to other marine organisms, but they also are beneficial to humankind via, for instance, their role as nurseries for commercially important fish species. Corals are considered holobionts (host + symbionts) since they are composed not only of coral polyps, but also algae, other microbial eukaryotes and prokaryotes. In recent years, Caribbean reef corals, including the once-common scleractinian coral Acropora cervicornis, have suffered unprecedented mortality due to climate change-related stressors. Unfortunately, our basic knowledge of the molecular ecophysiology of reef corals, particularly with respect to their complex bacterial microbiota, is currently too poor to project how climate change will affect this species. For instance, we do not know how light influences microbial communities of A. cervicornis, arguably the most endangered of all Caribbean coral species. To this end, we characterized the microbiota of A. cervicornis inhabiting water depths with different light regimes. Methods Six A. cervicornis fragments from different individuals were collected at two different depths (three at 1.5 m and three at 11 m) from a reef 3.2 km off the northeastern coast of Puerto Rico. We characterized the microbial communities by sequencing the 16S rRNA gene region V4 with the Illumina platform. Results A total of 173,137 good-quality sequences were binned into 803 OTUs with a 97% similarity. We uncovered eight bacterial phyla at both depths with a dominance of 725 Rickettsiales OTUs (Proteobacteria). A fewer number (38) of low dominance OTUs varied by depth and taxa enriched in shallow water corals included Proteobacteria (e.g. Rhodobacteraceae and Serratia) and Firmicutes (Streptococcus). Those enriched in deeper water corals featured different Proteobacterial taxa (Campylobacterales and Bradyrhizobium) and Firmicutes (Lactobacillus). Discussion Our results confirm that the microbiota of A. cervicornis inhabiting the northeastern region of Puerto Rico is dominated by a Rickettsiales-like bacterium and that there are significant changes in less dominant taxa at different water depths. These changes in less dominant taxa may potentially impact the coral’s physiology, particularly with respect to its ability to respond to future increases in temperature and CO2.https://peerj.com/articles/3717.pdfCoral16S rDNACaribbeanMicrobiotaDepth-related |
| spellingShingle | Filipa Godoy-Vitorino Claudia P. Ruiz-Diaz Abigail Rivera-Seda Juan S. Ramírez-Lugo Carlos Toledo-Hernández The microbial biosphere of the coral Acropora cervicornis in Northeastern Puerto Rico PeerJ Coral 16S rDNA Caribbean Microbiota Depth-related |
| title | The microbial biosphere of the coral Acropora cervicornis in Northeastern Puerto Rico |
| title_full | The microbial biosphere of the coral Acropora cervicornis in Northeastern Puerto Rico |
| title_fullStr | The microbial biosphere of the coral Acropora cervicornis in Northeastern Puerto Rico |
| title_full_unstemmed | The microbial biosphere of the coral Acropora cervicornis in Northeastern Puerto Rico |
| title_short | The microbial biosphere of the coral Acropora cervicornis in Northeastern Puerto Rico |
| title_sort | microbial biosphere of the coral acropora cervicornis in northeastern puerto rico |
| topic | Coral 16S rDNA Caribbean Microbiota Depth-related |
| url | https://peerj.com/articles/3717.pdf |
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