Experimental Inoculation of Coral Recruits With Marine Bacteria Indicates Scope for Microbiome Manipulation in Acropora tenuis and Platygyra daedalea
Coral-associated microorganisms are essential for maintaining the health of the coral holobiont by participating in nutrient cycling and protecting the coral host from pathogens. Under stressful conditions, disruption of the coral prokaryotic microbiome is linked to increased susceptibility to disea...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2019-07-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Microbiology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmicb.2019.01702/full |
| _version_ | 1818302144690782208 |
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| author | Katarina Damjanovic Katarina Damjanovic Madeleine J. H. van Oppen Madeleine J. H. van Oppen Patricia Menéndez Patricia Menéndez Linda L. Blackall |
| author_facet | Katarina Damjanovic Katarina Damjanovic Madeleine J. H. van Oppen Madeleine J. H. van Oppen Patricia Menéndez Patricia Menéndez Linda L. Blackall |
| author_sort | Katarina Damjanovic |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Coral-associated microorganisms are essential for maintaining the health of the coral holobiont by participating in nutrient cycling and protecting the coral host from pathogens. Under stressful conditions, disruption of the coral prokaryotic microbiome is linked to increased susceptibility to diseases and mortality. Inoculation of corals with beneficial microbes could confer enhanced stress tolerance to the host and may be a powerful tool to help corals thrive under challenging environmental conditions. Here, we explored the feasibility of coral early life stage microbiome manipulation by repeatedly inoculating coral recruits with a bacterial cocktail generated in the laboratory. Co-culturing the two species Acropora tenuis and Platygyra daedalea allowed us to simultaneously investigate the effect of host factors on the coral microbiome. Inoculation cocktails were regularly prepared from freshly grown pure bacterial cultures, which were hence assumed viable, and characterized via the optical density measurement of each individual strain put in suspension. Coral early recruits were inoculated seven times over 3 weeks and sampled once 36 h following the last inoculation event. At this time point, the cumulative inoculations with the bacterial cocktails had a strong effect on the bacterial community composition in recruits of both coral species. While the location of bacterial cells within the coral hosts was not assessed, metabarcoding using the 16S rRNA gene revealed that two and six of the seven bacterial strains administered through the cocktails were significantly enriched in inoculated recruits of A. tenuis and P. daedalea, respectively, compared to control recruits. Despite being reared in the same environment, A. tenuis and P. daedalea established significantly different bacterial communities, both in terms of taxonomic composition and diversity measurements. These findings indicate that coral host factors as well as the environmental bacterial pool play a role in shaping coral-associated bacterial community composition. Host factors may include microbe transmission mode (horizontal versus maternal) and host specificity. While the long-term stability of taxa included in the bacterial inocula as members of the host-associated microbiome remains to be evaluated, our results provide support for the feasibility of coral microbiome manipulation, at least in a laboratory setting. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-13T05:34:14Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ea1531cb8de34acfa945bcc7184e65e3 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-302X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T05:34:14Z |
| publishDate | 2019-07-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Microbiology |
| spelling | doaj.art-ea1531cb8de34acfa945bcc7184e65e32022-12-21T23:57:59ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Microbiology1664-302X2019-07-011010.3389/fmicb.2019.01702452611Experimental Inoculation of Coral Recruits With Marine Bacteria Indicates Scope for Microbiome Manipulation in Acropora tenuis and Platygyra daedaleaKatarina Damjanovic0Katarina Damjanovic1Madeleine J. H. van Oppen2Madeleine J. H. van Oppen3Patricia Menéndez4Patricia Menéndez5Linda L. Blackall6School of BioSciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, AustraliaAustralian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville, QLD, AustraliaSchool of BioSciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, AustraliaAustralian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville, QLD, AustraliaAustralian Institute of Marine Science, Townsville, QLD, AustraliaSchool of Mathematics and Physics, University of Queensland, Saint Lucia, QLD, AustraliaSchool of BioSciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, AustraliaCoral-associated microorganisms are essential for maintaining the health of the coral holobiont by participating in nutrient cycling and protecting the coral host from pathogens. Under stressful conditions, disruption of the coral prokaryotic microbiome is linked to increased susceptibility to diseases and mortality. Inoculation of corals with beneficial microbes could confer enhanced stress tolerance to the host and may be a powerful tool to help corals thrive under challenging environmental conditions. Here, we explored the feasibility of coral early life stage microbiome manipulation by repeatedly inoculating coral recruits with a bacterial cocktail generated in the laboratory. Co-culturing the two species Acropora tenuis and Platygyra daedalea allowed us to simultaneously investigate the effect of host factors on the coral microbiome. Inoculation cocktails were regularly prepared from freshly grown pure bacterial cultures, which were hence assumed viable, and characterized via the optical density measurement of each individual strain put in suspension. Coral early recruits were inoculated seven times over 3 weeks and sampled once 36 h following the last inoculation event. At this time point, the cumulative inoculations with the bacterial cocktails had a strong effect on the bacterial community composition in recruits of both coral species. While the location of bacterial cells within the coral hosts was not assessed, metabarcoding using the 16S rRNA gene revealed that two and six of the seven bacterial strains administered through the cocktails were significantly enriched in inoculated recruits of A. tenuis and P. daedalea, respectively, compared to control recruits. Despite being reared in the same environment, A. tenuis and P. daedalea established significantly different bacterial communities, both in terms of taxonomic composition and diversity measurements. These findings indicate that coral host factors as well as the environmental bacterial pool play a role in shaping coral-associated bacterial community composition. Host factors may include microbe transmission mode (horizontal versus maternal) and host specificity. While the long-term stability of taxa included in the bacterial inocula as members of the host-associated microbiome remains to be evaluated, our results provide support for the feasibility of coral microbiome manipulation, at least in a laboratory setting.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmicb.2019.01702/fullcoral microbiomeprobioticsbacterial manipulationassisted evolutionAcropora tenuisPlatygyra daedalea |
| spellingShingle | Katarina Damjanovic Katarina Damjanovic Madeleine J. H. van Oppen Madeleine J. H. van Oppen Patricia Menéndez Patricia Menéndez Linda L. Blackall Experimental Inoculation of Coral Recruits With Marine Bacteria Indicates Scope for Microbiome Manipulation in Acropora tenuis and Platygyra daedalea Frontiers in Microbiology coral microbiome probiotics bacterial manipulation assisted evolution Acropora tenuis Platygyra daedalea |
| title | Experimental Inoculation of Coral Recruits With Marine Bacteria Indicates Scope for Microbiome Manipulation in Acropora tenuis and Platygyra daedalea |
| title_full | Experimental Inoculation of Coral Recruits With Marine Bacteria Indicates Scope for Microbiome Manipulation in Acropora tenuis and Platygyra daedalea |
| title_fullStr | Experimental Inoculation of Coral Recruits With Marine Bacteria Indicates Scope for Microbiome Manipulation in Acropora tenuis and Platygyra daedalea |
| title_full_unstemmed | Experimental Inoculation of Coral Recruits With Marine Bacteria Indicates Scope for Microbiome Manipulation in Acropora tenuis and Platygyra daedalea |
| title_short | Experimental Inoculation of Coral Recruits With Marine Bacteria Indicates Scope for Microbiome Manipulation in Acropora tenuis and Platygyra daedalea |
| title_sort | experimental inoculation of coral recruits with marine bacteria indicates scope for microbiome manipulation in acropora tenuis and platygyra daedalea |
| topic | coral microbiome probiotics bacterial manipulation assisted evolution Acropora tenuis Platygyra daedalea |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fmicb.2019.01702/full |
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