title: Phylogenetic diversity of actinobacteria associated with soft coral Alcyonium gracllimum and stony coral Tubastraea coccinea in the East China Sea.
abstract: Actinobacteria are widely distributed in the marine environment. To date, few studies have been performed to explore the coral-associated Actinobacteria, and little is known about the diversity of coral-associated Actinobacteria. In this study, the actinobacterial diversity associated with one soft coral Alcyonium gracllimum and one stony coral Tubastraea coccinea collected from the East China Sea was investigated using both culture-independent and culture-dependent approaches. A total of 19 actinobacterial genera were detected in these two corals, among which nine genera (Corynebacterium, Dietzia, Gordonia, Kocuria, Microbacterium, Micrococcus, Mycobacterium, Streptomyces, and Candidatus Microthrix) were common, three genera (Cellulomonas, Dermatophilus, and Janibacter) were unique to the soft coral, and seven genera (Brevibacterium, Dermacoccus, Leucobacter, Micromonospora, Nocardioides, Rhodococcus, and Serinicoccus) were unique to the stony coral. This finding suggested that highly diverse Actinobacteria were associated with different types of corals. In particular, five actinobacterial genera (Cellulomonas, Dermacoccus, Gordonia, Serinicoccus, and Candidatus Microthrix) were recovered from corals for the first time, extending the known diversity of coral-associated Actinobacteria. This study shows that soft and stony corals host diverse Actinobacteria and can serve as a new source of marine actinomycetes.
authors.affiliation: Marine Biotechnology Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism and School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai, 200240, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Shan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Cen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Liling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Fengli
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Zhiyong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D039903:Actinobacteria / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D000818:Animals; D037421:Anthozoa / Q000145:classification / Q000382:microbiology*; D002681:China; D014644:Genetic Variation; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009792:Oceans and Seas; D010802:Phylogeny