Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Metagenomics of the Coral Holobiont

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Metagenomics

  • 237 Accesses

Synonyms

Coral reef: scleractinian reef; Symbiodinium: Zooxanthellae

Definitions

Coral: Multicellular animal in the phylum Cnidaria, host to a diverse microbial assemblage.

Symbiodinium: The photosynthetic algal symbiont of corals and other animals.

Microbiome: The microbial assemblage and the corresponding genomes living in a particular host.

Coral holobiont: A coral host and its associated microbial community.

Bleaching: Disruption of coral-Symbiodinium symbiosis.

Introduction

Coral reefs are tropical and subtropical marine oligothrophic environments. Despite the low nutrient availability, they exhibit the largest biodiversity estimates of any marine ecosystem. The estimated value of these ecosystems worldwide is of 375 billion dollars per year (Costanza et al. 1997) represented in the form of fisheries, tourism, and bioprospecting that benefit coastal communities.

Scleractinian corals are the key builders of these magnificent structures. They live in an obligate symbiosis with...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Brandt ME, McManus JW. Disease incidence is related to bleaching extent in reef-building corals. Ecology. 2009;90(10):2859–67.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bruce T, Meirelles PM, Garcia G, Paranhos R, Rezende CE, de Moura RL, et al. Abrolhos bank reef health evaluated by means of water quality, microbial diversity, benthic cover, and fish biomass data. PLoS ONE. 2012;7(6):e36687.

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Coffroth MA, Santos SR. Genetic diversity of symbiotic dinoflagellates in the genus Symbiodinium. Protist. 2005;156(1):19–34.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Costanza R, dArge R, de Groot R, Farber S, Grasso M, Hannon B, et al. The value of the world’s ecosystem services and natural capital. Nature. 1997;387(6630):253–60.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • DeSalvo MK, Sunagawa S, Fisher PL, Voolstra CR, Iglesias-Prieto R, Medina M. Coral host transcriptomic states are correlated with Symbiodinium genotypes. Mol Ecol. 2010;19(6):1174–86.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dinsdale EA, Edwards RA, Hall D, Angly F, Breitbart M, Brulc JM, et al. Functional metagenomic profiling of nine biomes. Nature. 2008;452:629–33.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Freudenthal HD. Symbiodinium Gen Nov and Symbiodinium microadriaticum sp nov, a Zooxanthella - taxonomy, life cycle, and morphology. J Protozool. 1962;9(1):45–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hewson I, Brown JM, Burge CA, Couch CS, LaBarre BA, Mouchka MA, et al. Description of viral assemblages associated with the Gorgonia ventalina holobiont. Coral Reefs. 2012;31:487–91.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Iglesias-Prieto R, Trench RK. Photoadaptation, photoacclimation and niche diversification in invertebrate-dinoflagellate symbioses. Proceedings of the 8th International Coral Reef Symposium. 1997. vol. 2, p. 1319–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kellogg CA. Tropical Archaea: diversity associated with the surface microlayer of corals. Mar Ecol Prog Ser. 2004;273:81–8. 08 June 2004.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Littman RA, Willis BL, Bourne DG. Metagenomic analysis of the coral holobiont during a natural bleaching event on the great barrier reef. Environ Microbiol Rep. 2011;3(6):651–60.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Margulis L. Symbiosis in cell evolution: microbial communities in the Archean and Proterozoic Eons. San Francisco: W. Freeman; 1981.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meyer E, Weis VM. Study of Cnidarian-Algal Symbiosis in the “Omics” age. Biol Bull. 2012;223(1):44–65. 1 Aug 2012.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rohwer F, Seguritan V, Azam F, Knowlton N. Diversity and distribution of coral-associated bacteria. Mar Ecol Prog Ser. 2002;243:1–10.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rosenberg, Eugene, Gophna, Uri (eds.), Beneficial microorganisms in multicellular life forms, Springer Berlin Heidelberg.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rowan R, Knolwton N. Intraspecific diversity and ecological zonation in coral-algal symbiosis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1995;92:2850–3.

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sunagawa S, Woodley CM, Medina MN. Threatened corals provide underexplored microbial habitats. PLoS ONE. 2010;5(3):e9554.

    Article  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Vega Thurber RL, Barott KL, Hall D, Liu H, Rodriguez-Mueller B, Desnues C, et al. Metagenomic analysis indicates that stressors induce production of herpes-like viruses in the coral Porites compressa. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008;105(47):18413–8.

    Article  CAS  PubMed Central  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Vega Thurber R, Willner-Hall D, Rodriguez-Mueller B, Desnues C, Edwards RA, Angly F, et al. Metagenomic analysis of stressed coral holobionts. Environ Microbiol. 2009;11(8):2148–63.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wegley KL, Barott KL, Dinsdale E, Friedlander AM, Nosrat B, Obura D, et al. Black reefs: iron-induced phase shifts on coral reefs. ISME J. 2012;6(3):638–49.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802

    Mónica Medina

  2. Structural and Computational Biology, European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg, Germany

    Shinichi Sunagawa

Authors
  1. Mónica Medina
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Shinichi Sunagawa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mónica Medina .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI), Rockville, Maryland, USA

    Karen E. Nelson

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York

About this entry

Cite this entry

Medina, M., Sunagawa, S. (2013). Metagenomics of the Coral Holobiont. In: Nelson, K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Metagenomics. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6418-1_5-3

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6418-1_5-3

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-6418-1

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Biomedicine and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation