Mono- and multispecies biofilms from a crustose coralline alga induce settlement in the scleractinian coral Leptastrea purpurea


Contact
nina.tombers [ at ] hifmb.de

Abstract

Microorganisms have been reported to induce settlement in various marine invertebrate larvae but their specificity of inductive capacities for the settlement of coral larvae remains poorly understood. In this study, we isolated 56 microbial strains from the crustose coralline alga (CCA) Hydrolithon reinboldii using five different media either with or without additional antibiotics and/or spiked CCA extract. We tested the isolates for their potential to induce settlement behavior in larvae of the brooding scleractinian coral Leptastrea purpurea. From these 56 CCA-associated microbial strains, we identified six bacterial classes and 18 families. The culturable bacterial community associated with H. reinboldii was dominated by Gammaproteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Alphaproteobacteria while the Illumina MiSeq analysis showed that the culture-independent bacterial community was dominated by Gammaproteobacteria, Alphaproteobacteria, and Flavobacteria. Furthermore, we found no correlation between inductive settlement capacities and phylogenetic relationships. Instead, settlement behavior of L. purpurea larvae was induced by specific isolated species. Strains #1792 (Pseudovibrio denitrificans), #1678 (Acinetobacter pittii), #1633 (Pseudoalteromonas phenolica), #1772 (Marine bacterium LMG1), #1721 (Microbulbifer variabilis), and #1783 (Pseudoalteromonas rubra) induced settlement behavior in coral larvae at mostly high and significant levels (>= 40%) but the remaining isolates strongly varied in their activity. Multispecies biofilms consisting of four strains (#1792, #1678, #1633, and #1721) were observed to synergistically increase settlement behavior levels (> 90%); however, the addition of #1772 to the multispecies biofilms negatively affected coral larvae and resulted in a total loss of inducing activity. The findings provide new insights into the role of bacteria in the settlement process of scleractinian corals and may help to identify the true nature of bacteria-derived morphogenic cues.



Item Type
Article
Authors
Divisions
Primary Division
Programs
Primary Topic
Peer revision
ISI/Scopus peer-reviewed
Publication Status
Published
Eprint ID
53962
DOI 10.1007/s00338-021-02062-5

Cite as
Petersen, L. E. , Moeller, M. , Versluis, D. , Nietzer, S. , Kellermann, M. Y. and Schupp, P. J. (2021): Mono- and multispecies biofilms from a crustose coralline alga induce settlement in the scleractinian coral Leptastrea purpurea , Coral Reefs, 40 (2), pp. 381-394 . doi: 10.1007/s00338-021-02062-5


Download
[thumbnail of Petersen2021_Article_Mono-AndMultispeciesBiofilmsFr.pdf]
Preview
PDF
Petersen2021_Article_Mono-AndMultispeciesBiofilmsFr.pdf

Download (678kB) | Preview

Share


Citation

Geographical region
N/A

Research Platforms
N/A

Campaigns
N/A


Actions
Edit Item Edit Item