Microbial community and transcriptional responses to V. coralliilyticus stress in coral Favites halicora and Pocillopora damicornis holobiont

• Published in: Marine environmental research Vol. 196; p. 106394
• Main Authors: Wang, Shuying, Lu, Chunrong, Zhang, Qi, He, Xucong, Wang, Weihui, Li, Jiani, Su, Hongfei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.04.2024
• Subjects: Animals; Anthozoa - genetics; apoptosis; bacterial communities; Coral; Coral Reefs; corals; DNA repair; Flavobacteriaceae; immune response; Immunol response; Microbial community; Microbiota; pathogens; Rhodobacteraceae; species; Symbiodiniaceae; transcription (genetics); Transcriptome; transcriptomics; V. coralliilyticus; Vibrio; Vibrio - physiology; Symbiodiniaceae; Coral; Immunol response; Microbial community; Transcriptome; V. coralliilyticus
• ISSN: 0141-1136; 1879-0291; 1879-0291
• DOI: 10.1016/j.marenvres.2024.106394

Variability in coral hosts susceptibility to Vibrio coralliilyticus is well-documented; however, the comprehensive understanding of tolerance of response to pathogen among coral species is lacked. Herein, we investigated the microbial communities and transcriptome dynamics of two corals in response to Vibrio coralliilyticus. Favites halicora displayed greater resistance to Vibrio coralliilyticus challenge than Pocillopora damicornis. Furthermore, the relative abundances of Flavobacteriaceae, Vibrionacea, Rhodobacteraceae, and Roseobacteraceae increased significantly in Favites halicora following pathogen stress, whereas that of Akkermansiaceae increased significantly in Pocillopora damicornis, leading to bacterial community imbalance. In contrast to the previous results, pathogen infection did not have much effect on the community structures of Symbiodiniaceae and fungi, but led to a decrease in the density of Symbiodiniaceae. Transcriptome analysis indicated that Vibrio infection triggered a coral immune response, resulting in higher expression of immune-related genes, which appeared to have higher transcriptional plasticity in Favites halicora than in Pocillopora damicornis. Specifically, the upregulated genes of Favites halicora were predominantly involved in the apoptosis pathway, whereas Pocillopora damicornis were significantly enriched in the nucleotide excision repair and base excision repair pathways. These findings suggest that coral holobionts activate different mechanisms across species in response to pathogens through shifts in microbial communities and transcriptomes, which provides novel insight into assessing the future coral assemblages suffering from disease outbreaks. •Under stress from V. coralliilyticus, P. damicornis showed bleaching, while F. halicora appeared healthy.•F. halicora exhibits higher richness and lower diversity, possibly leading its higher tolerance.•P. damicornis responds to pathogen through innate immunity, homeostasis maintenance, and DNA repair.•F.halicora responds to pathogen through stronger transcriptome responses including innate immunity and apoptosis.