Metagenomic analysis reveals a green sulfur bacterium as a potential coral symbiont

Lin, Chunye; Zhou, Guowei; Tian, Ren Mao; Tong, Haoya; Zhang, Weipeng; Sun, Jin; Ding, Wei; Wong, Yue Him; Xie, James Y.; Qiu, Jian‐Wen; Liu, Sheng; Huang, Hui; Qian, Pei‐Yuan

doi:10.1038/s41598-017-09032-4

Cited by 33 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 59 publications

(70 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Vibrionales) (Olson et al, 2009;Lema et al, 2012;Olson and Lesser, 2013;Lema et al, 2014b;Santos et al, 2014;Yang et al, 2015;Lesser et al, 2018). Only one study identified Chlorobia to clearly dominate (>80%) the diazotrophic community in a tropical coral (Yang et al, 2015), which, besides N 2 fixation, potentially reveals additional ecological functions for the coral host such as anoxygenic photosynthesis, C fixation and sulfur oxidation (Yang et al, 2016;Cai et al, 2017). The high relative abundance of potentially autotrophic as compared with heterotrophic diazotrophs in O. patagonica suggests that these bacteria may provide, besides DDN, also fixed C to the coral host.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diazotrophic community and associated dinitrogen fixation within the temperate coral Oculina patagonica

Bednarz

Water

Rabouille

et al. 2018

Environmental Microbiology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Summary Dinitrogen (N2) fixing bacteria (diazotrophs) are an important source of new nitrogen in oligotrophic environments and represent stable members of the microbiome in tropical corals, while information on corals from temperate oligotrophic regions is lacking. Therefore, this study provides new insights into the diversity and activity of diazotrophs associated with the temperate coral Oculina patagonica from the Mediterranean Sea by combining metabarcoding sequencing of amplicons of both the 16S rRNA and nifH genes and 15N2 stable isotope tracer analysis to assess diazotroph‐derived nitrogen (DDN) assimilation by the coral. Results show that the diazotrophic community of O. patagonica is dominated by autotrophic bacteria (i.e. Cyanobacteria and Chlorobia). The majority of DDN was assimilated into the tissue and skeletal matrix, and DDN assimilation significantly increased in bleached corals. Thus, diazotrophs may constitute an additional nitrogen source for the coral host, when nutrient exchange with Symbiodinium is disrupted (e.g. bleaching) and external food supply is limited (e.g. oligotrophic summer season). Furthermore, we hypothesize that DDN can facilitate the fast proliferation of endolithic algae, which provide an alternative carbon source for bleached O. patagonica. Overall, O. patagonica could serve as a good model for investigating the importance of diazotrophs in coral recovery from bleaching.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Diazotrophic community and associated dinitrogen fixation within the temperate coral Oculina patagonica

Bednarz

Water

Rabouille

et al. 2018

Environmental Microbiology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Evidence of sulfur oxidation in microbiomes of other sponges 77,78 corals 79 , and other invertebrates 80 suggests this is a common energy source for symbiotic microbes, although it could be regulated by diurnal fluctuations in oxygen concentration in M. cavernosa. Transcripts for a thiosulfate transporter (cysP) were recovered from M. cavernosa (Fig.…”

Section: Functional Overview Of the Sponge And Coral Microbiome Profmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trait-Based Comparison of Coral and Sponge Microbiomes

Fiore

Jarett

Steinert

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

corals and sponges harbor diverse microbial communities that are integral to the functioning of the host. While the taxonomic diversity of their microbiomes has been well-established for corals and sponges, their functional roles are less well-understood. It is unclear if the similarities of symbiosis in an invertebrate host would result in functionally similar microbiomes, or if differences in host phylogeny and environmentally driven microhabitats within each host would shape functionally distinct communities. Here we addressed this question, using metatranscriptomic and 16S rRNA gene profiling techniques to compare the microbiomes of two host organisms from different phyla. Our results indicate functional similarity in carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur assimilation, and aerobic nitrogen cycling. Additionally, there were few statistical differences in pathway coverage or abundance between the two hosts. For example, we observed higher coverage of phosphonate and siderophore metabolic pathways in the star coral, Montastraea cavernosa, while there was higher coverage of chloroalkane metabolism in the giant barrel sponge, Xestospongia muta. Higher abundance of genes associated with carbon fixation pathways was also observed in M. cavernosa, while in X. muta there was higher abundance of fatty acid metabolic pathways. Metagenomic predictions based on 16S rRNA gene profiling analysis were similar, and there was high correlation between the metatranscriptome and metagenome predictions for both hosts. our results highlight several metabolic pathways that exhibit functional similarity in these coral and sponge microbiomes despite the taxonomic differences between the two microbiomes, as well as potential specialization of some microbially based metabolism within each host. Microbial symbionts have played a critical role in shaping the evolution of multicellular life by facilitating and promoting host defense 1 , nutrient acquisition 2 , and species diversification 3. For example, in coral reef ecosystems, intracellular dinoflagellates in the Family Symbiodiniaceae occur as the primary mutualistic symbionts within the coral host and are essential to the survival and growth of the coral host, while receiving a suitable habitat and essential nutrients in return 4,5. Prokaryotic symbionts also contribute to the success of coral reef organisms, including corals and sponges 6-9 , by providing bioactive compounds for chemical defenses 10,11 , recycling host waste 12,13 , and in some cases providing a reliable source of vitamins and nutrients 14-17. Numerous studies have characterized the taxonomic composition of microbes in corals and sponges 18,19 ; however, our understanding of the multiple functional roles of these symbionts is still incomplete. Corals and sponges harbor remarkably diverse prokaryotic symbionts with thousands of unique taxa in many coral and sponge species 20,21. Many of these taxa persist across different host species (i.e., the core microbiome) over broad spatial scales 9,22-24 , and in some cases these host-...

show abstract

“…For plausibility, an analogous event has occurred more recently. Coral, a eukaryote, has a ''green sulfur bacterium as a potential coral symbiont'' (Cai et al, 2017). Modern eukaryotes that lack mitochondria have mitochondrial genes in their nuclei; their ancestors, thus, jettisoned their mitochondria in the past (e.g., Martin and Müller, 1998).…”

Section: Geological and Geochemical Constraints On Life 1207mentioning

confidence: 99%

Geological and Geochemical Constraints on the Origin and Evolution of Life

Sleep

2018

Astrobiology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The traditional tree of life from molecular biology with last universal common ancestor (LUCA) branching into bacteria and archaea (though fuzzy) is likely formally valid enough to be a basis for discussion of geological processes on the early Earth. Biologists infer likely properties of nodal organisms within the tree and, hence, the environment they inhabited. Geologists both vet tenuous trees and putative origin of life scenarios for geological and ecological reasonability and conversely infer geological information from trees. The latter approach is valuable as geologists have only weakly constrained the time when the Earth became habitable and the later time when life actually existed to the long interval between ∼4.5 and ∼3.85 Ga where no intact surface rocks are known. With regard to vetting, origin and early evolution hypotheses from molecular biology have recently centered on serpentinite settings in marine and alternatively land settings that are exposed to ultraviolet sunlight. The existence of these niches on the Hadean Earth is virtually certain. With regard to inferring geological environment from genomics, nodes on the tree of life can arise from true bottlenecks implied by the marine serpentinite origin scenario and by asteroid impact. Innovation of a very useful trait through a threshold allows the successful organism to quickly become very abundant and later root a large clade. The origin of life itself, that is, the initial Darwinian ancestor, the bacterial and archaeal roots as free-living cellular organisms that independently escaped hydrothermal chimneys above marine serpentinite or alternatively from shallow pore-water environments on land, the Selabacteria root with anoxygenic photosynthesis, and the Terrabacteria root colonizing land are attractive examples that predate the geological record. Conversely, geological reasoning presents likely events for appraisal by biologists. Asteroid impacts may have produced bottlenecks by decimating life. Thermophile roots of bacteria and archaea as well as a thermophile LUCA are attractive.

show abstract

Metagenomic analysis reveals a green sulfur bacterium as a potential coral symbiont

Cited by 33 publications

References 59 publications

Diazotrophic community and associated dinitrogen fixation within the temperate coral Oculina patagonica

Diazotrophic community and associated dinitrogen fixation within the temperate coral Oculina patagonica

Trait-Based Comparison of Coral and Sponge Microbiomes

Geological and Geochemical Constraints on the Origin and Evolution of Life

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About