Quintanilla Elena, Rodrigues Clara F, Henriques Isabel, Hilário Ana
Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies (CESAM), Department of Biology, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal.
Department of Life Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.
Front Microbiol. 2022 Mar 30;13:828469. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.828469. eCollection 2022.
Deep coral-dominated communities play paramount roles in benthic environments by increasing their complexity and biodiversity. Coral-associated microbes are crucial to maintain fitness and homeostasis at the holobiont level. However, deep-sea coral biology and their associated microbiomes remain largely understudied, and less from remote and abyssal environments such as those in the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone (CCZ) in the tropical Northeast (NE) Pacific Ocean. Here, we study microbial-associated communities of abyssal gorgonian corals and anemones (>4,000 m depth) in the CCZ; an area harboring the largest known global reserve of polymetallic nodules that are commercially interesting for the deep-sea nodule mining. Coral samples ( = 25) belonged to Isididae and Primnoidae families, while anemones ( = 4) to Actinostolidae family. Significant differences in bacterial community compositions were obtained between these three families, despite sharing similar habitats. Anemones harbored bacterial microbiomes composed mainly of Hyphomicrobiaceae, Parvibaculales, and members. Core microbiomes of corals were mainly dominated by different Spongiibacteraceae and Terasakiellaceae bacterial members, depending on corals' taxonomy. Moreover, the predicted functional profiling suggests that deep-sea corals harbor bacterial communities that allow obtaining additional energy due to the scarce availability of nutrients. This study presents the first report of microbiomes associated with abyssal gorgonians and anemones and will serve as baseline data and crucial insights to evaluate and provide guidance on the impacts of deep-sea mining on these key abyssal communities.
以深海珊瑚为主导的群落通过增加其复杂性和生物多样性,在底栖环境中发挥着至关重要的作用。与珊瑚相关的微生物对于维持全生物水平的健康和体内平衡至关重要。然而,深海珊瑚生物学及其相关微生物群落仍在很大程度上未被充分研究,尤其是来自偏远和深渊环境的研究较少,比如热带东北太平洋的克拉里昂-克利珀顿断裂带(CCZ)。在这里,我们研究了CCZ中深渊柳珊瑚和海葵(深度>4000米)的微生物相关群落;该区域拥有已知全球最大的多金属结核储量,这些结核对深海结核开采具有商业价值。珊瑚样本(n = 25)属于艾氏柳珊瑚科和拟柳珊瑚科,而海葵样本(n = 4)属于辐花海葵科。尽管这三个科共享相似的栖息地,但它们的细菌群落组成存在显著差异。海葵的细菌微生物群落主要由生丝微菌科、微小杆菌目和γ-变形菌纲成员组成。珊瑚的核心微生物群落主要由不同的海绵杆菌科和寺崎氏菌科细菌成员主导,这取决于珊瑚的分类学。此外,预测的功能分析表明,由于营养物质供应稀缺,深海珊瑚拥有能够获取额外能量的细菌群落。本研究首次报告了与深渊柳珊瑚和海葵相关的微生物群落,并将作为基线数据和关键见解,以评估深海采矿对这些关键深渊群落的影响并提供指导。