Gut microbial community plasticity as a climate shield mediating sea cucumber resilience to ocean acidification and warming.

ABSTRACT: Ocean acidification (OA) and ocean warming (OW) pose escalating threats to marine ecosystems, particularly to benthic organisms, such as sea cucumbers, that play pivotal roles in nutrient cycling and sediment health. Existing research mainly addresses sea cucumbers' physiological responses, overlooking gut microbial communities and metabolites in their stress adaptation. Herein, a mesocosm was constructed and analyzed by using integrated gut microbiome and metabolomics approaches to investigate the responses of sea cucumbers Apostichopus japonicus to OA and OW. Results revealed that microbial community plasticity underpins holobiont adaptation, with warming restructuring gut microbiota toward thermotolerant taxa, whereas acidification enriches alkalinity-modulating Rhodobacteraceae

SUBMITTER: Shan E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12596727 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature