Hi guys,
I‘ve seen people who study coral micro-biome using coral mucus, coral tissues, and seawater over coral surface( within 1cm) . But which one is the best/most suitable? Why do people want to sample the adjacent seawater? Let's say if the current/tide is active/strong, the microbes in adjacent seawater would be replaced by new members very soon. Also I wonder if anyone have compared the microbial diversity within coral tissues vs. adjacent seawater.
Any input is welcome
Kind. Fang
I think both of the mucus and tissues are interesting for microbial diversity, since the mucus and tissues of healthy corals all contain large populations of eukaryotic algae, bacteria and archaea. And after it's depend what you would like to see in it. You can also read the attached pdf if it can help you also.
Most coral-associated bacterial studies sample adjacent seawater for comparison purposes (i.e. to show that corals do, in fact, harbor bacterial communities that are very distinct from the surrounding seawater environment). Researchers attempt to sample the mucus separately from coral tissue and skeleton because they are interested in how bacterial communities are partitioned within the coral host (e.g., are endosymbionts present?, where are the majority of bacteria found within the host and why?). It all depends on what your question is.
I agree with the above comments. It really depends on what you are interested in. Are you interested in overall changes in the coral microbial community, or do you want to know the composition of the microbial community within each niche in the coral (e.g. skeleton, tissues, mucus)?
It is always important to take samples from adjacent water, or other potential sources of influence as a control. This way you may control whether the microbes that you find within the coral microbiome are coral-specific or also found within the surrounding environment.
You often find papers working on the coral microbiota with microbial community profiles from both the coral and the surrounding water (see examples in links attached).
I hope this helped.
http://aem.asm.org/content/68/5/2214.short
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00338-010-0695-1
I have helped during my master in the Microbial Ecology and Evolution Research Group, in CCMAR, Ualg. They studied microbiomes in corals ans sponges. In soft sponges I know the tissue was used by being blended. With corals I believe tissue was also used, but do not know which was the methodology. I know they also did comparison between sea water and coral tissue.
You could contact Tina Keller-Costa if you would like to know more details (see the attached research gate profile link).
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Tina_Keller-Costa
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