Shifts in the gut microbiota of sea urchin Diadema antillarum associated with the 2022 disease outbreak.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

In recent decades, Caribbean coral reefs have lost many vital marine species due to diseases. The well-documented mass mortality event of the long-spined black sea urchin Diadema antillarum in the early 1980s stands out among these collapses. This die-off killed over 90% of D. antillarum changing the reefscape from coral to algal-dominated. Nearly 40 years later, D. antillarum populations have yet to recover. In early 2022, a new mortality event of D. antillarum was reported along the Caribbean, including Puerto Rico.

Methods

This study identifies the gut microbiota changes associated with the D. antillarum during this mortality event. It contrasts them with the bacterial composition of gut samples from healthy individuals coll

SUBMITTER: Ruiz-Barrionuevo JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11317302 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature