The Microbial Signature Provides Insight into the Mechanistic Basis of Coral Success across Reef Habitats.

ABSTRACT:

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For ecosystems vulnerable to environmental change, understanding the spatiotemporal stability of functionally crucial symbioses is fundamental to determining the mechanisms by which these ecosystems may persist. The coral Pachyseris speciosa is a successful environmental generalist that succeeds in diverse reef habitats. The generalist nature of this coral suggests it may have the capacity to form functionally significant microbial partnerships to facilitate access to a range of nutritional sources within different habitats. Here, we propose that coral is a metaorganism hosting three functionally distinct microbial interactions: a ubiquitous core microbiome of very few symbiotic host-selected bacteria, a microbiome of spatially and/or regionally explicit core microbes fi

SUBMITTER: Hernandez-Agreda A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4981706 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature