Characterization of Geographically Distinct Bacterial Communities Associated with Coral Mucus Produced by Acropora spp. and Porites spp

<jats:title>ABSTRACT</jats:title> <jats:p> <jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">Acropora</jats:named-content> and <jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">Porites</jats:named-content> corals are important reef builders in the Indo-Pacific and Caribbean. Bacteria associated with mucus produced by <jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">Porites</jats:named-content> spp. and <jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">Acropora</jats:named-content> spp. from Caribbean (Punta Maroma, Mexico) and Indo-Pacific (Hoga and Sampela, Indonesia) reefs were determined. Analysis of pyrosequencing libraries showed that bacterial communities from Caribbean corals were significantly more diverse (H′, 3.18 to 4.25) than their Indonesian counterparts (H′, 2.54 to 3.25). Dominant taxa were <jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">Gammaproteobacteria</jats:named-content> , <jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">Alphaproteobacteria</jats:named-content> , <jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">Firmicutes</jats:named-content> , and <jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">Cyanobacteria</jats:named-content> , which varied in relative abundance between coral genera and region. Distinct coral host-specific communities were also found; for example, <jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">Clostridiales</jats:named-content> were dominant on <jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">Acropora</jats:named-content> spp. (at Hoga and the Mexican Caribbean) compared to <jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">Porites</jats:named-content> spp. and seawater. Within the <jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">Gammproteobacteria</jats:named-content> , <jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">Halomonas</jats:named-content> spp. dominated sequence libraries from <jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">Porites</jats:named-content> spp. (49%) and <jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">Acropora</jats:named-content> spp. (5.6%) from the Mexican Caribbean, compared to the corresponding Indonesian coral libraries (&lt;2%). Interestingly, with the exception of <jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">Porites</jats:named-content> spp. from the Mexican Caribbean, there was also a ubiquity of <jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">Psychrobacter</jats:named-content> spp., which dominated <jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">Acropora</jats:named-content> and <jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">Porites</jats:named-content> libraries from Indonesia and <jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">Acropora</jats:named-content> libraries from the Caribbean. In conclusion, there was a dominance of <jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">Halomonas</jats:named-content> spp. (associated with <jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">Acropora</jats:named-content> and <jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">Porites</jats:named-content> [Mexican Caribbean]), <jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">Firmicutes</jats:named-content> (associated with <jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">Acropora</jats:named-content> [Mexican Caribbean] and with <jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">Acropora</jats:named-content> and <jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">Porites</jats:named-content> [Hoga]), and <jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">Cyanobacteria</jats:named-content> (associated with <jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">Acropora</jats:named-content> and <jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">Porites</jats:named-content> [Hoga] and <jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">Porites</jats:named-content> [Sampela]). This is also the first report describing geographically distinct <jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">Psychrobacter</jats:named-content> spp. associated with coral mucus. In addition, the predominance of <jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">Clostridiales</jats:named-content> associated with <jats:named-content content-type="genus-species">Acropora</jats:named-content> spp. provided additional evidence for coral host-specific microorganisms. </jats:p>