The Bacterial Community Of The Coral Holobiont - 1296 Words

The coral holobiont consists of many different living components. In this paper, the main focus will be on the bacterial community of the coral holobiont. Since there has already been extensive study on algal interaction with the coral, the aim of this paper is to shed light on some of the lesser studied micro ecological communities and the implications that it has on the macro-ecological level of the ecosystem. In order to study the coral holobiont and the micro-ecological systems involved, a few questions must be answered. We must first define the structure of the coral holobiont and identify the bacteria specific to each environment. Then, we should examine potential interactions between the coral host and the bacteria communities.†¦show more content†¦(2) The SML consists of surface that is associated with microbial communities and transient bacteria. There are numerous possible delivery sources of bacteria to the SML, such as passive settlement from the water column, de posited faecal matter, and re-suspended sediments from the benthos, all of which may pass on specific bacterial species. (2) Two transient bacteria found on the SML were Bacteroidetes sp. and Sphingobacterium sp., which also exist in the water column. A predominant surface that is associated with microbial bacteria is alpha proteobacteria, which is present in both the water column and SML. It appears to be a common bacteria amongst many corals as it is mentioned to be found in both colonies of A. millepora and A. hyacinthus on Heron island. (3) Other bacteria found specific to the SML in the heron island species are four ribotypes related to Chloroflexi, Sphingobacterium sp., Roseobacter sp. and Pseudoalteromonas sp. (2). The coral tissue is another microbial community which is more stable and shows variation in oxygen tension based on diurnal variations. (2) The most abundant bacterial ribotypes found on healthy corals were Gamma proteobacteria, defined as type A coral associates. (3) It is found predominantly in the coral tissues. (2) Gamma proteobacteria is also found in the SML, however it is not the predominant species. The coral skeleton is isolated from the ambient seawater and