459: Prokaryotes Provide Polyp Perserverance

This episode: Transplanting microbes from some corals to others
could help the corals survive high temperatures!


Download Episode (5.7 MB, 8.3 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Streptomyces olivaceoviridis


 


News item

 



Takeaways




The ever-rising temperatures of our modern world are
putting more and more stress on various ecosystems. This
is true even on the ocean floor: record-high temperatures
damage reefs by causing coral bleaching, in which corals
lose their photosynthetic endosymbionts. If conditions do
not improve, these corals eventually die.


 


Corals have microbial symbionts other than the
phototrophs, also. We know from ourselves and from plants
that microbes can have big effects on their hosts, so it
seemed worth testing whether symbionts from more
heat-resistant corals could transfer heat resistance to
more vulnerable individuals. Recipients of this treatment
did show enhanced heat resistance, but the microbial
community composition did not always change after the
treatment.



 
Journal Paper:
Doering T, Wall M, Putchim L, Rattanawongwan T, Schroeder R,
Hentschel U, Roik A. 2021. Towards enhancing coral heat
tolerance: a “microbiome transplantation” treatment using
inoculations of homogenized coral tissues. Microbiome 9:102.




Other interesting stories:



Tiny bacterium kills larger bacterium that makes
troublesome foam




 


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com. Thanks for listening!


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