Nathalia Delgadillo-Ordoñez, Neus Garcias-Bonet, Inês Raimundo, Francisca C García, Helena Villela, Eslam O Osman, Erika P Santoro, Joao Curdia, Joao G D Rosado, Pedro Cardoso, Ahmed Alsaggaf, Adam Barno, Chakkiath Paul Antony, Carolina Bocanegra, Michael L Berumen, Christian R Voolstra, Francesca Benzoni, Susana Carvalho, Raquel S Peixoto
Beneficial microorganisms for corals (BMCs), or probiotics, can enhance coral resilience against stressors in laboratory trials. However, the ability of probiotics to restructure the coral microbiome in situ is yet to be determined. As a first step to elucidate this, we inoculated putative probiotic bacteria (pBMCs) on healthy colonies of Pocillopora verrucosa in situ in the Red Sea, three times per week, during 3 months. pBMCs significantly influenced the coral microbiome, while bacteria of the surrounding seawater and sediment remained unchanged...
April 9, 2024: Communications Biology