Tropical archaea: diversity associated with the surface microlayer of corals

By Christina A. Kellogg. 2004

163 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Recent 16S rDNA studies have focused on detecting uncultivated bacteria associated with Caribbean reef corals in an effort to address the ecological roles of coral-associated microbes. Reports of Archaea associated with fishes and marine invertebrates raised the question of whether Archaea might also be part of the coral-associated microbial community. DNA analysis of mucus from 3 reef-building species of Caribbean corals, Montastraea annularis complex, Diploria strigosa and D. labyrinthiformis in the US Virgin Islands yielded 34 groups of archaeal 16S ribotypes (defined at the level of 97% similarity). The majority (75%) was most closely matched by BLAST searches to sequences derived from marine water column samples, whereas the remaining ribotypes were most similar to sequences isolated from anoxic environments (15%) and hydrothermal vents (9%). Unlike previous 16S studies of coral-associated Bacteria, the results do not suggest specific associations between particular archaeal sequences and individual coral species. Marine Archaea (Groups I, II and III) in addition to Thermoplasma-like, methanogen, and marine benthic crenarchaeote phylotypes, were detected in the mucus of tropical corals. The finding of sequences from coral-associated Archaea that are closely related to strict and facultative anaerobes, as well as to uncultivated Archaea from other types of anoxic environments, suggests that anaerobic micro-niches may exist in coral mucus layers. Archaea, with their unique biogeochemical capabilities, broaden the scope of possible interactions between corals and their associated microbial communities.

Subfields: Ecology, Immunology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/28fe83ae6db2597df893ae208dd783f3969b2425

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Ecology

In Immunology

Citations in the corpus

Viruses as pathogens of marine organisms—from bacteria to whales (2006, unknown): “, 2004; Bourne & Munn, 2005;) and archaea (Kellogg, 2004).”
Bacterial assemblages differ between compartments within the coral holobiont (2011, background): “…Rivest et al. 2010), protozoa (Toller et al. 2002; Croquer et al. 2006; Dong et al. 2009; Sebastian et al. 2009; Stat et al. 2009), bacteria (Kooperman et al. 2007; Rosenberg et al. 2007; Smith et al. 2007; Kimes et al. 2010) and archaea (Kellogg 2004; Rohwer and Kelley 2004; Wegley et al. 2004).”
Coral-associated Archaea (2004, background): “In another study on coral-associated Archaea (Kellogg 2004), archaeal species from Marine Groups I, II, and III were found.”