Bacterial dynamics within the mucus, tissue and skeleton of the coral Porites lutea during different seasons.

ABSTRACT: Investigation of the response of coral microbial communities to seasonal ecological environment at the microscale will advance our understanding of the relationship between coral-associated bacteria community and coral health. In this study, we examined bacteria community composition from mucus, tissue and skeleton of Porites lutea and surrounding seawater every three months for 1 year on Luhuitou fringing reef. The bacterial communities were analyzed using pyrosequencing of the V1-V2 region of the 16S rRNA gene, which demonstrated diverse bacterial consortium profiles in corals. The bacterial communities in all three coral compartments studied were significantly different from the surrounding seawater. Moreover, they had a much more dynamic seasonal response compared to the seawater commu

SUBMITTER: Li J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4256709 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature