Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Apr 28;21(1):130.
doi: 10.1186/s12866-021-02167-5.

Shifting the microbiome of a coral holobiont and improving host physiology by inoculation with a potentially beneficial bacterial consortium

Ying Zhang  1   2   3   4   5 , Qingsong Yang  1   2   4   5 , Juan Ling  1   2   4 , Lijuan Long  1   2   3   4 , Hui Huang  1   2   3   4 , Jianping Yin  1   2 , Meilin Wu  1   2 , Xiaoyu Tang  1   5 , Xiancheng Lin  1   5 , Yanying Zhang  6 , Junde Dong  7   8   9   10
Affiliations

Shifting the microbiome of a coral holobiont and improving host physiology by inoculation with a potentially beneficial bacterial consortium

Ying Zhang et al. BMC Microbiol. .

Erratum in

Abstract

Background: The coral microbiome plays a key role in host health by being involved in energy metabolism, nutrient cycling, and immune system formation. Inoculating coral with beneficial bacterial consortia may enhance the ability of this host to cope with complex and changing marine environments. In this study, the coral Pocillopora damicornis was inoculated with a beneficial microorganisms for corals (BMC) consortium to investigate how the coral host and its associated microbial community would respond.

Results: High-throughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing revealed no significant differences in bacterial community α-diversity. However, the bacterial community structure differed significantly between the BMC and placebo groups at the end of the experiment. Addition of the BMC consortium significantly increased the relative abundance of potentially beneficial bacteria, including the genera Mameliella and Endozoicomonas. Energy reserves and calcification rates of the coral host were also improved by the addition of the BMC consortium. Co-occurrence network analysis indicated that inoculation of coral with the exogenous BMC consortium improved the physiological status of the host by shifting the coral-associated microbial community structure.

Conclusions: Manipulating the coral-associated microbial community may enhance the physiology of coral in normal aquarium conditions (no stress applied), which may hypothetically contribute to resilience and resistance in this host.

Keywords: Beneficial bacterial consortium; Endozoicomonas; High-throughput sequencing; Pocillopora damicornis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Coral gross energy reserves and calcification rates following exposure to a bacterial consortium. a Changes in coral gross energy reserves on days 7, 14 and 21. b Changes in average daily calcification rates in the placebo (purple boxes) and BMC (orange boxes) groups. * and ** indicate significant differences at P < 0.05 and P < 0.01, respectively. Bars represent the standard deviation of the mean. Number of coral fragments: gross energy reserves, n = 6; calcification rate, n = 9
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Relative abundances of the coral microbiome of placebo and BMC groups at the phylum level (except Proteobacteria, which is represented at the class level). Bubble size indicates relative abundance, and different colors represent different treatments. Numbers 7, 14 and 21 represent days 7, 14 and 21, respectively. Placebo: received no bacterial consortium; BMC: received the bacterial consortium
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Subsystems enriched or depleted with the bacterial genera between the placebo and BMC groups. Data from days 7 (a), 14 (b) and 21 (c). Subsystems overrepresented in the added bacterial consortium treatment community with positive (negative) differences between proportions are indicated by different colors (black is placebo group; purple is BMC group). Red font: P < 0.05
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Co-occurrence patterns of markedly changing genera and physiological parameters of the coral. Network analysis was conducted on data from days 7 (a), 14 (b), and 21 (c). Each connection indicates a strong significant correlation, with Spearman’s correlation coefficient ≥ 0.5 and P < 0.05. Each node represents a microbial genus, and the size is proportional to the node connectivity. Each edge represents a linkage between two co-occurring nodes, and the color represents a correlation (red is positive; purple is negative). All nodes are labeled with annotated genera, which are colored at the phylum level except Proteobacteria, which is at the class level)
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Experimental design flowchart. Placebo and BMC groups, which each comprised two aquariums containing 12 coral nubbins, were used to explore the effects of addition of a bacterial consortium on coral physiology and microbial community structure. Buoyancy weighing and coral sampling were conducted every 6 days, and three corals were collected per aquarium at time point. After each sampling, the BMC group was inoculated with the bacterial consortium, and the placebo group received FSW. Water-flow exchange with the outside of the aquarium was stopped for 24 h after each inoculation
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Marcelino VR, Verbruggen H. Multi-marker metabarcoding of coral skeletons reveals a rich microbiome and diverse evolutionary origins of endolithic algae. Sci Rep. 2016;6(1):9. doi: 10.1038/srep31508. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hernandez-Agreda A, Gates RD, Ainsworth TD. Defining the Core microbiome in Corals' microbial soup. Trends Microbiol. 2017;25(2):125–140. doi: 10.1016/j.tim.2016.11.003. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Mass T, Putnam HM, Drake JL, Zelzion E, Gates RD, Bhattacharya D, et al. Temporal and spatial expression patterns of biomineralization proteins during early development in the stony coral Pocillopora damicornis. Proc Royal Soc B-Biol Sci. 2016;283(1829); doi: 10.1098/rspb.2016.0322. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Costanza R, De Groot R, Sutton P, Van der Ploeg S, Anderson SJ, Kubiszewski I, et al. Changes in the global value of ecosystem services. Global Environ Change. 2014;26:7–158. doi: 10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2014.04.002. - DOI
    1. Woodhead AJ, Hicks CC, Norström AV, Williams GJ, Graham NAJ. Coral reef ecosystem services in the Anthropocene. Funct Ecol. 2019;33(6); doi: 10.1111/1365-2435.13331.

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

LinkOut - more resources