title: Microbes enriched in seawater after addition of coral mucus.
abstract: We investigated which microbial taxa in coastal Red Sea water were stimulated by addition of mucus from the coral Fungia sp. Decreases in the concentration and C/N ratio of particulate organic material during short-term incubations (50 h) were paralleled by a steep rise in the number of Gammaproteobacteria, particularly Alteromonadaceae, followed by Vibrionaceae. Two almost identical genotypes affiliated with Alteromonas macleodii accounted for up to >85% of all Alteromonadaceae (45% of the total cells) in the mucus-amended enrichments but were rare in unamended control incubations and in ambient seawater. A. macleodii-like bacteria might thus be important in the transfer of organic carbon from coral mucus to the pelagic microbial food webs of coral reefs.
authors.affiliation: Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Bremen, Germany.
authors.forename: Elke
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Allers
authors.forename: Christina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Niesner
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wild
authors.forename: Jakob
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pernthaler
mesh_terms: D034241:Alteromonadaceae / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D000818:Animals; D037421:Anthozoa / Q000737:chemistry*; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D020459:Genes, rRNA; D019156:Indian Ocean; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D012329:RNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S / Q000235:genetics; D012623:Seawater / Q000382:microbiology*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D014737:Vibrionaceae / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000302:isolation & purification
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D004275:DNA, Ribosomal; D012329:RNA, Bacterial; D012336:RNA, Ribosomal, 16S