Rola Marcellina, Coelho Márcio A G, Pruckner Christian, Quiroga-Pérez Manuela, Stock Willem, Baylina Núria, Engelen Aschwin H, Wägele Heike, Serrão Ester A, Frade Pedro R
Zoological Department III, Natural History Museum Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
Center for Molecular Biodiversity Research, Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change (LIB), Bonn, Germany.
Front Microbiol. 2025 Aug 6;16:1605105. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1605105. eCollection 2025.
Temperate coral gardens are dense coral formations, which support rich marine species diversity, enabling benthic-pelagic coupling. Over the past decades, coral gardens have been increasingly threatened by bottom fishing, oil and gas exploitation, and climate change. Microbiome research bears great potential for assisted resilience in targeted conservation and restoration approaches. Yet, fundamental parameters of the coral garden microbiome remain poorly understood. Here, we provide a first broad record of bacterial communities associated with NE Atlantic coral garden corals and their community changes as response to human maintenance in conservation research. Octocorals (10 species), scleractinians (2 species) and one black coral species, were opportunistically collected from fisheries bycatch at 60-480 m depth around Cape St. Vincent (SW Portugal). Metabarcoding of the 16S-rRNA gene using third-generation sequencing revealed a high microbial host-specificity in the wild-collected coral species analyzed, and supported the importance of bacterial families Endozoicomonadaceae (mean relative abundance ± SE; 28.3 ± 10.5%), Spirochaetaceae (8.2 ± 5.8%) and Spongiibacteraceae (4.6 ± 1.8%). Endozoicomonadaceae were particularly dominant in the octocoral order Malacalcyonacea (67.7 ± 14.5%). The low microbial alpha diversity and limited interspecies differences among the Malacalcyonacea species suggest a conserved microbiome within this group, as compared to orders Scleralcyonacea, Antipatharia, and Scleractinia. Microbial responses to maintenance of two branching octocoral species, and cf. (Order Malacalcyonacea), were investigated (1) over 45 days under standardized aquaria conditions in the research station (Ramalhete Marine Station, CCMAR) and (2) over long-term captivity in two public aquaria, Oceanário de Lisboa and Zoomarine. displayed a stronger microbial community shift to short-term captivity (45 days), in contrast to greater microbiome stability in cf. . However, long-term captivity in public aquaria led to microbiome shifts in both species. The strong host specificity of microbial diversity and its response to maintenance indicate that conservation and restoration of coral gardens require taxon-specific strategies.
温带珊瑚园是密集的珊瑚群落，拥有丰富的海洋物种多样性，促进了底栖生物与浮游生物的耦合。在过去几十年里，珊瑚园受到底拖网捕捞、石油和天然气开采以及气候变化的威胁日益加剧。微生物组研究在针对性的保护和恢复方法中具有协助恢复力的巨大潜力。然而，珊瑚园微生物组的基本参数仍知之甚少。在此，我们首次广泛记录了与东北大西洋珊瑚园珊瑚相关的细菌群落及其在保护研究中对人类养护的群落变化。八放珊瑚（10种）、石珊瑚（2种）和一种黑珊瑚，是在葡萄牙西南部圣文森特角周围60 - 480米深度的渔业兼捕物中随机采集的。使用第三代测序对16S - rRNA基因进行元条形码分析，揭示了在所分析的野生采集珊瑚物种中微生物具有高度的宿主特异性，并证实了内生单胞菌科（平均相对丰度±标准误；28.3±10.5%）、螺旋体科（8.2±5.8%）和海绵杆菌科（4.6±1.8%）的重要性。内生单胞菌科在八放珊瑚软珊瑚目（67.7±14.�%）中尤为占主导地位。与石珊瑚目、黑珊瑚目和石珊瑚目相比软珊瑚目物种的微生物α多样性较低且种间差异有限，这表明该类群内存在保守的微生物组。研究了两种分支八放珊瑚物种，即 和 （软珊瑚目）对养护的微生物反应，（1）在研究站（CCMAR的拉马莱特海洋站）的标准化水族箱条件下进行了45天的观察，以及（２）在两个公共水族馆，即里斯本海洋馆和Zoomarine进行了长期圈养观察。与 相比， 在短期圈养（45天）时显示出更强的微生物群落变化，而 具有更高的微生物组稳定性。然而，在公共水族馆的长期圈养导致了两个物种的微生物组变化。微生物多样性的强宿主特异性及其对养护的反应表明，珊瑚园的保护和恢复需要特定分类群的策略。
