Publication Date:
2022-05-26
Description:
© The Author(s), 2015. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology 4 (2015): 176, doi:10.3389/fcimb.2014.00176.
Description:
In the last two decades, genetic and genomic studies have revealed the astonishing diversity and ubiquity of microorganisms. Emergence and expansion of the human microbiome project has reshaped our thinking about how microbes control host health—not only as pathogens, but also as symbionts. In coral reef environments, scientists have begun to examine the role that microorganisms play in coral life history. Herein, we review the current literature on coral-microbe interactions within the context of their role in evolution, development, and ecology. We ask the following questions, first posed by McFall-Ngai et al. (2013) in their review of animal evolution, with specific attention to how coral-microbial interactions may be affected under future environmental conditions: (1) How do corals and their microbiome affect each other's genomes? (2) How does coral development depend on microbial partners? (3) How is homeostasis maintained between corals and their microbial symbionts? (4) How can ecological approaches deepen our understanding of the multiple levels of coral-microbial interactions? Elucidating the role that microorganisms play in the structure and function of the holobiont is essential for understanding how corals maintain homeostasis and acclimate to changing environmental conditions.
Description:
Support for this work was provided to Janelle R. Thompson by the National Research Foundation of Singapore through the Center for Environmental Sensing and Modeling (CENSAM) and by the MIT Civil and Environmental Engineering Department; to Hanny E. Rivera by the MIT Presidential Fellowship; to Collin J. Closek by the National Geographic Society; and to Mónica Medina by NSF projects IOS 1146880 and IOS 0926906.
Keywords:
Coral
;
Holobiont
;
Metamorphosis
;
Biological
;
Symbiosis
;
Pollution and global change
;
Ecosystem
;
Bacterial interactions
Repository Name:
Woods Hole Open Access Server
Type:
Article
Format:
application/pdf
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