Exploring microbiome engineering as a strategy for improved thermal tolerance in Exaiptasia diaphana.

ABSTRACT:

Aims

Fourteen percent of all living coral, equivalent to more than all the coral on the Great Barrier Reef, has died in the past decade as a result of climate change-driven bleaching. Inspired by the 'oxidative stress theory of coral bleaching', we investigated whether a bacterial consortium designed to scavenge free radicals could integrate into the host microbiome and improve thermal tolerance of the coral model, Exaiptasia diaphana.

Methods and results

E. diaphana anemones were inoculated with a consortium of high free radical scavenging (FRS) bacteria, a consortium of congeneric low FRS bacteria, or sterile seawater as a control, then exposed to elevated temperature. Increases in the relative abundance of Labrenzia during the first 2 weeks following the last inoculation

SUBMITTER: Dungan AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9303619 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature