Microbiome of Dendrogyra cylindrus (Pillar Coral) polyps from the Florida Reef Tract under in situ and ex situ conditions
Metagenomic assessment of Dendrogyra cylindrus (Pillar Coral) polyps in situ and ex situ. The project investigated in and ex situ microbiomes of Pillar corals in the Florida Keys tract. This work is important as it highlights the microbial communities of these corals in light of disease prevalence and need for continued conservation.Ex situ coral fragments were collected in situ between 2016 and 2018 were held long-term in recirculating aquarium systems; samples for this study were collected in February 2019. In situ samples were collected between 2016 and 2017. Genomic DNA (DNeasy Plant Mini-kit protocol (Qiagen)) was used to generate V3-V4 hypervariable region amplicons of the prokaryotic 16S rRNA gene then sequenced Illumina MiSeq with a 2x250 paired-end configuration.