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Characterization of bacterial community structure in two alcyonacean soft corals (Litophyton sp. and Sinularia sp.) from Chuuk, Micronesia

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Abstract

Microbes in the coral holobiont play important roles in nitrogen fixation, carbon supply, antibiotic production, mucus recycling, and food supply to maintain homeostasis in corals. However, microbes can also induce coral diseases in response to environmental changes under non-optimal conditions. Therefore, studies of microbial communities are needed to understand the health statuses of corals in response to environmental changes. In this study, we performed 16S rDNA metabarcoding to investigate the bacterial communities in two healthy alcyonacean soft coral species (Sinularia sp. and Litophyton sp.) inhabiting the coast of Weno Island (Chuuk, Micronesia) and in ambient seawater. We identified 18 bacterial phyla, 24 classes, 54 orders, 109 families, and 222 genera associated with the two corals and seawater. The bacterial communities differed in the corals and seawater. The bacterial community in Sinularia sp. was dominated by the genus Spirochaeta in Spirochaetaceae (63.9% relative abundance), followed by Endozoicomonas (10%). In Litophyton sp., the bacterial community also contained Spirochaeta (19.5%) and Endozoicomonas (4.7%), although Cellvibrionaceae (23.7%) was dominant and other groups such as Rhizobiales (11.5%) and Rhodospirillales (8.7%) were evenly distributed. In ambient seawater, the predominant bacteria were Pelagibacter (29.2%), Rhodobacteraceae (15.5%), Prochlorococcus (11.3%), and Vibrio (5.8%), which are distinct from the species in the two coral species. The microbial communities between the two alcyonacean soft corals and seawater were different, and the microbial community differences were coral species-specific.

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Acknowledgements

The genomic DNA samples of corals and seawaters were obtained from the Library of Marine Samples, Korea Institute of Ocean Science & Technology, Republic of Korea. This research was supported by the Bio & Medical Technology Development Program of the National Research Foundation (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science & ICT (NRF-2017M3A9E4072753) and entitled “Development of technology for mass production of useful marine bioproducts” by the Research Program of Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology (PE99922).

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  1. Library of Marine Samples, Korea Institute of Ocean Science & Technology, Geoje, 53201, Republic of Korea

    Joon Sang Park, Hyun-Jung Kim & Seung Won Jung

  2. Marine Biotechnology Research Center, Korea Institute of Ocean Science & Technology, Busan, 49111, Republic of Korea

    Jeonghoon Han

  3. Department of Bioscience, Mokpo National University, Muan-gun, 58554, Republic of Korea

    Sung-Suk Suh

  4. Risk Assessment Research Center, Korea Institute of Ocean Science & Technology, Geoje, 53201, Republic of Korea

    Taek-Kyun Lee

  5. Department of Ocean Science, University of Science & Technology, Daejeon, 34113, Republic of Korea

    Taek-Kyun Lee & Seung Won Jung

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Park, J.S., Han, J., Suh, SS. et al. Characterization of bacterial community structure in two alcyonacean soft corals (Litophyton sp. and Sinularia sp.) from Chuuk, Micronesia. Coral Reefs 41, 563–574 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-021-02176-w

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