Stable mucus-associated bacterial communities in bleached and healthy corals of Porites lobata from the Arabian Seas.

ABSTRACT: Coral reefs are subject to coral bleaching manifested by the loss of endosymbiotic algae from coral host tissue. Besides algae, corals associate with bacteria. In particular, bacteria residing in the surface mucus layer are thought to mediate coral health, but their role in coral bleaching is unknown. We collected mucus from bleached and healthy Porites lobata colonies in the Persian/Arabian Gulf (PAG) and the Red Sea (RS) to investigate bacterial microbiome composition using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. We found that bacterial community structure was notably similar in bleached and healthy corals, and the most abundant bacterial taxa were identical. However, fine-scale differences in bacterial community composition between the PAG and RS were present and aligned with predicted diffe

SUBMITTER: Hadaidi G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5374439 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature