Abstract
In many ecological communities, predation has a key role in regulating community structure or function. Although predation has been extensively explored in animals and microbial eukaryotes, predation by bacteria is less well understood. Here we show that predatory bacteria of the genus Halobacteriovorax are prevalent and active predators on the surface of several genera of reef-building corals. Across a library of 198 16S rRNA samples spanning three coral genera, 79% were positive for carriage of Halobacteriovorax. Cultured Halobacteriovorax from Porites asteroides corals tested positive for predation on the putative coral pathogens Vibrio corallyticus and Vibrio harveyii. Co-occurrence network analysis showed that Halobacteriovorax’s interactions with other bacteria are influenced by temperature and inorganic nutrient concentration, and further suggested that this bacterial predator’s abundance may be driven by prey availability. Thus, animal microbiomes can harbor active bacterial predators, which may regulate microbiome structure and protect the host by consuming potential pathogens.
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Acknowledgements
We thank numerous volunteers for assistance with the experiment and the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary for permits (FKNMS-2009-047 and FKNMS-2011-090). This research was supported by National Science Foundation grant OCE-1130786 to DEB and RVT, Florida International University, and Oregon State University.
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Welsh, R., Zaneveld, J., Rosales, S. et al. Bacterial predation in a marine host-associated microbiome. ISME J 10, 1540–1544 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/ismej.2015.219
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ismej.2015.219
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