Patterns of bacteria-host associations suggest different ecologicalstrategies between two reef building cold-water coral species

• Published in: Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers
• Main Authors: Meistertzheim, Anne.-Leila, Lartaud, Franck, Arnaud-Haond, Sophie, Kalenitchenko, Dimitri, Bessalam, Manon, Bris, Nadine Le, E.Galand, Pierre
• Other Authors: Centre de recherches insulaires et observatoire de l'environnement (CRIOBE), Université de Perpignan Via Domitia (UPVD)-École pratique des hautes études (EPHE), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire d'Ecogéochimie des environnements benthiques (LECOB), Observatoire océanologique de Banyuls (OOB), Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 (UPMC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Laboratoire Environnement Profond (LEP), Etudes des Ecosystèmes Profonds (EEP), Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER)-Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER), MARine Biodiversity Exploitation and Conservation (UMR MARBEC), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut Français de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer (IFREMER)-Université de Montpellier (UM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2016
• Subjects: Deep-Sea corals; Bacterial communities; Bacterial ecology; MediterraneanSea; Microbe-microbeandmicrobe-host; Interactions; Madreporaoculata; Lophelia pertusa; [SDV.MP]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Microbiology and Parasitology; [SDV.MP.BAC]Life Sciences [q-bio]/Microbiology and Parasitology/Bacteriology
• Online Access: https://hal-univ-perp.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01380580; https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dsr.2016.04.013

International audience Cold-water corals (CWC) are main ecosystem engineers of the deep sea, and their reefs constitute hot-spots of biodiversity. However, their ecology remains poorly understood, particularly, the nature of the holobiont formed by corals with their associated bacterial communities. Here, we analyzed Madrepora oculata and Lophelia pertusa samples, collected from one location in a Mediterranean canyon in two different seasons (autumn and spring), in order to test for species specificity and temporal stability of the host-bacteria associations. The 16S rRNA sequencing revealed host-specific patterns of bacterial communities associated with L. pertusa and M. oculata, both in terms of community composition and diversity. All analyzed M. oculata polyps exhibited temporally and spatially similar bacterial communities dominated by haplotypes homologous to the known cnidarians-associated genus Endozoicomonas. In contrast, the bacterial communities associated with L. pertusa varied among polyps from the same colony, as well as among distinct colonies and between seasons. While the resilient consortium formed by M. oculata and its bacterial community fit the definition of holobiont, the versatility of the L. pertusa microbiome suggests that this association is more influenced by the environmental conditions or nutritional status. Our results thus highlight distinct host/microbes association strategies for these two closely related Scleractinians sharing the same habitat, suggesting distinct sensitivity to environmental change.