Abstract
Corals harbor a great diversity of symbiotic microorganisms that play pivotal roles in host nutrition, reproduction, and development. Changes in the ocean environment, such as increasing exposure to artificial light at night (ALAN), may alter these relationships and result in a decline in coral health. In this study, we examined the microbiome associated with gravid specimens of the reef-building coral Acropora digitifera. We also assessed the temporal effects of ALAN on the coral-associated microbial community using high-throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene V4 hypervariable region. The A. digitifera microbial community was dominated by phyla Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Bacteroidetes. Exposure to ALAN had no large-scale effect on the coral microbiome, although taxa affiliated with Rhodobacteraceae, Caulobacteraceae, Burkholderiaceae, Lachnospiraceae, and Ruminococcaceae were significantly enriched in corals subjected to ALAN. We further noted an increase in the relative abundance of the family Endozoicomonadaceae (Endozoicomonas) as the spawning period approached, regardless of light treatment. These findings highlight the stability of the A. digitifera microbial community under short-term artificial light pollution and provide initial insights into the response of the collective holobiont to ALAN.
Highlights
Corals play vital roles in marine ecosystems
The A. digitifera microbiome was dominated by members of the phyla Proteobacteria (35.03%), Firmicutes (25.71%), Bacteroidetes (16.44%), Actinobacteria (1.34%), Planctomycetes (0.24%), Verrucomicrobia (0.08%), and Cyanobacteria (0.07%) (Figure 1A)
Thirtythree amplicon sequence variants (ASVs), including several members of Lachnospiraceae and Ruminococcaceae, were significantly associated with corals sampled at T1, while two ASVs affiliated with Endozoicomonadaceae were associated with corals at T3
Summary
Corals play vital roles in marine ecosystems. The reefs they construct protect shorelines from wave impacts and provide habitats for diverse marine organisms [1,2]. Corals are considered holobionts or metaorganisms because of their association with photosynthetic algae (Symbiodiniaceae dinoflagellates), fungi, viruses, and prokaryotic microbes (bacteria and archaea) [3]. These symbionts reside in the corals’ surface mucopolysaccharide layer (SML), tissues, gastrovascular cavity, and skeleton [4,5,6,7,8]. Coral-associated prokaryotic microbes are taxonomically and functionally diverse [11,12] They are key for maintaining holobiont health as they contribute to carbon cycling, sulfur cycling, phosphorus fixation, metal homeostasis, organic remediation, the production of antibiotics, and secondary metabolite production [13,14,15]
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