Geographical variations in bacterial communities associated with soft coral Scleronephthya gracillimum.

ABSTRACT: Environmental impacts can alter relationships between a coral and its symbiotic microbial community. Furthermore, changes in the microbial community associated with increased seawater temperatures can cause opportunistic infections, coral disease and death. Interactions between soft corals and their associated microbes are not well understood. The species Scleronephthya gracillimum is distributed in tropical to temperate zones in coral assemblages along the Kuroshio Current region. In this study we collected S. gracillimum from various sites at different latitudes, and compared composition of their bacterial communities using Next Generation Sequencing. Coral samples from six geographically distinct areas (two sites each in Taiwan, Japan, and Korea) had considerable variation in their asso

SUBMITTER: Woo S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5578639 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature