Shenzhen Public Platform for Screening and Application of Marine Microbial Resources, Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China.
Ocean College, Zhejiang University, Zhoushan, Zhejiang, China.
mSystems. 2023 Dec 21;8(6):e0050523. doi: 10.1128/msystems.00505-23. Epub 2023 Oct 26.
Coral reefs worldwide are facing rapid decline due to coral bleaching. However, knowledge of the physiological characteristics and molecular mechanisms of coral symbionts respond to stress is scarce. Here, metagenomic and metaproteomic approaches were utilized to shed light on the changes in the composition and functions of coral symbiotic bacteria during coral bleaching. The results demonstrated that coral bleaching significantly affected the composition of symbionts, with bacterial communities dominating in bleached corals. Through differential analyses of gene and protein expression, it becomes evident that symbionts experience functional disturbances in response to heat stress. These disturbances result in abnormal energy metabolism, which could potentially compromise the health and resilience of the symbionts. Furthermore, our findings highlighted the highly diverse microbial communities of coral symbionts, with beneficial bacteria providing critical services to corals in stress responses and pathogenic bacteria driving coral bleaching. This study provides comprehensive insights into the complex response mechanisms of coral symbionts under heat stress from the micro-ecological perspective and offers fundamental data for future monitoring of coral health.
由于珊瑚白化，全球范围内的珊瑚礁正迅速减少。然而，对于珊瑚共生生物对压力的生理特征和分子机制的了解还很缺乏。在这里，我们利用宏基因组学和宏蛋白质组学方法来阐明珊瑚白化过程中珊瑚共生细菌组成和功能的变化。结果表明，珊瑚白化显著影响了共生体的组成，在白化珊瑚中，细菌群落占主导地位。通过对基因和蛋白质表达的差异分析，明显看出共生体在热应激下经历了功能障碍。这些功能障碍导致异常的能量代谢，这可能会损害共生体的健康和恢复能力。此外，我们的研究结果还突出了珊瑚共生体微生物群落的高度多样性，有益细菌在应对压力时为珊瑚提供关键服务，而致病性细菌则导致珊瑚白化。这项研究从微观生态角度全面深入地了解了珊瑚共生体在热应激下的复杂响应机制，并为未来珊瑚健康监测提供了基础数据。
