Codium tomentosum, as all organisms, hosts transiently and permanently numerous microorganisms. These holobionts can undergo environmental pressures influencing both partners creating modifications/imbalances within the associations, which may directly influence their physiological status by selecting tolerant bacteria. Furthermore, the capability of remediation of the associated bacterioflora, in particular of metallic trace elements, may provide the host with survival potential in polluted environments. In this context, we incubated C. tomentosum thalli in the presence of copper and studied its influence on the reference bacteriome. Whatever the concentration of copper, no shift was evidenced on the bacteriome at the phylum level. However, a high copper concentration enriched the bacteriome of C. tomentosum in both the genera Clostridium and Pseudolteromonas.
Keywords: Codium tomentosum; Copper; Holobiont; Microbiome.