Discovery of deep-sea coral symbionts from a novel clade of marine bacteria with severely reduced genomes.

ABSTRACT: Microbes perform critical functions in corals, yet most knowledge is derived from the photic zone. Here, we discover two mollicutes that dominate the microbiome of the deep-sea octocoral, Callogorgia delta, and likely reside in the mesoglea. These symbionts are abundant across the host's range, absent in the water, and appear to be rare in sediments. Unlike other mollicutes, they lack all known fermentative capabilities, including glycolysis, and can only generate energy from arginine provided by the coral host. Their genomes feature several mechanisms to interact with foreign DNA, including extensive CRISPR arrays and restriction-modification systems, which may indicate their role in symbiosis. We propose the novel family Oceanoplasmataceae which includes these symbionts and others associ

SUBMITTER: Vohsen SA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11535214 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature