The Effect of Captivity on the Dynamics of Active Bacterial Communities Differs Between Two Deep-Sea Coral Species

• Published in: Frontiers in Microbiology
• Main Authors: Galand, Pierre E., Chapron, Leila, Meistertzheim, Anne-Leila, Peru, Erwan, Lartaud, Franck
• Other Authors: Laboratoire d'Ecogéochimie des environnements benthiques (LECOB), Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Observatoire océanologique de Banyuls (OOB), Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire d'Océanographie Microbienne (LOMIC), Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Observatoire océanologique de Banyuls (OOB)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2018
• Subjects: Lophelia pertusa; Madrepora oculata; DNA/RNA; bacteria; aquaria experiment; [SDV.MP.BAC]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Microbiology and Parasitology/Bacteriology; [SDE.BE]Environmental Sciences/Biodiversity and Ecology; [SDU.STU.OC]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Oceanography
• Online Access: https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-01913196; https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-01913196/document; https://hal.sorbonne-universite.fr/hal-01913196/file/fmicb-09-02565.pdf; https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2018.02565

International audience Microbes play a crucial role in sustaining the coral holobiont's functions and in particular under the pressure of environmental stressors. The effect of a changing environment on coral health is now a major branch of research that relies heavily on aquarium experiments. However, the effect of captivity on the coral microbiome remains poorly known. Here we show that different cold-water corals species have different microbiome responses to captivity. For both the DNA and the RNA fraction, Madrepora oculata bacterial communities were maintained for at least 6 months of aquarium rearing, while Lophelia pertusa bacteria changed within a day. Interestingly, bacteria from the genus Endozoicomonas, a ubiquitous symbiont of numerous marine hosts, were resilient and remained active in M. oculata for several months. Our results demonstrate that a good knowledge of the coral microbiome and an understanding of the ecological strategy of the holobiont is needed before designing aquarium experiments.