Consistent responses of coral microbiome to acute and chronic heat stress exposures

Abstract

Frequent and intense heat waves lead to bleaching and even death of reef-building corals, and the thermal tolerance ultimately depends on the genetic composition of the holobiont. Here, we compared the effects of acute and chronic heat stress exposures on coral Porites cylindrica holobiont. Regardless of the temperature treatment, corals at 33 °C showed signs of bleaching and a significant decrease in photochemical efficiency (Fv/Fm). However, Symbiodiniaceae communities were relatively stable and all dominated by the same genus Cladocopium (C15). The relative abundanbce of core microbiome varied significantly, and they may provide several functions important to holobiont fitness. Both heat stress exposures induced the significant structural reorganization of coral-associated bacteria, with bacterial diversity and community heterogeneity significantly increasing with the temperature treatment. The modified stochasticity ratio (MST) revealed that stochastic processes dominated bacterial community assembly in thermally stressed corals. Certain core bacterial members that were hypothesized to fulfil functional niche decreased significantly, with the enrichment of potentially pathogenic and opportunistic bacteria in heat stress exposures. Thermally stressed corals had more positive correlation, higher network complexity and tighter associations among microbial taxa, relative to healthy corals. Overall, the coral microbiome exhibits similar responses to acute and chronic heat stress, and our study provides new insights about the deleterious impacts of complex warming oceans on coral holobiont.

Keywords: Coral holobiont; Coral-associated bacteria; Microbial interactions; Thermal stress.