Inter- and intra-habitat bacterial diversity associated with cold-water corals.
The discovery of large ecosystems of cold-water corals (CWC), stretching along continental margins in depths of hundreds to thousands of meters, has raised many questions regarding their ecology, biodiversity and relevance as deep-sea hard-ground habitat. This study represents the first investigation that explicitly targets bacterial diversity from distinct microbial habitats associated with the cosmopolitan reef-building coral Lophelia pertusa, and also compares natural (fjord) and controlled (aquarium) conditions. Coral skeleton surface, coral mucus, ambient seawater and reef sediments clearly showed habitat-specific differences in community structure and operational taxonomic unit (OTU) number. Especially in the natural environment, bacterial communities associated with coral-generated habitats were significantly more diverse than those present in the surrounding, non-coral habitats, or those in artificial coral living conditions (fjord vs aquarium). These findings strongly indicate characteristic coral-microbe associations and, furthermore, suggest that the variety of coral-generated habitats within reef systems promotes microbial diversity in the deep ocean.
Schöttner
Sandra
S
Microbial Habitat Group, Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Bremen, Germany.
Hoffmann
Friederike
F
Wild
Christian
C
Rapp
Hans Tore
HT
Boetius
Antje
A
Ramette
Alban
A
D000818:Animals; D037421:Anthozoa / Q000382:microbiology*; D001419:Bacteria / Q000145:classification* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D044822:Biodiversity; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000382:microbiology*; D010802:Phylogeny; D012623:Seawater / Q000382:microbiology*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D021903:DNA, Ribosomal Spacer