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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, December 2008, p. 7272-7285, Vol. 74, No. 23
0099-2240/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.01777-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Phenotype-Specific Bacterial Communities in the Cold-Water Coral Lophelia pertusa (Scleractinia) and Their Implications for the Coral's Nutrition, Health, and Distribution ^,

Sven C. Neulinger,^1* Johanna Järnegren,² Martin Ludvigsen,³ Karin Lochte,¹ and Wolf-Christian Dullo⁴

Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Am Handelshafen 12, D-27570 Bremerhaven, Germany,¹ Norwegian Institute for Nature Research (NINA), NO-7485 Trondheim, Norway,² Department of Marine Technology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), NO-7491 Trondheim, Norway,³ Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences (IFM-GEOMAR), East Shore Campus, Wischhofstrasse 1-3, D-24148 Kiel, Germany⁴

Received 1 August 2008/ Accepted 6 October 2008

The pseudocolonial coral Lophelia pertusa (Scleractinia, Caryophylliidae) is a eurybathic, stenothermal cosmopolitan cold-water species. It occurs in two color varieties, white and red. L. pertusa builds vast cold-water coral reefs along the continental margins, which are among the most diverse deep-sea habitats. Microbiology of L. pertusa has been in scientific focus for only a few years, but the question of whether the coral holds a host-specific bacterial community has not been finally answered. Bacteria on coral samples from the Trondheimsfjord (Norway) were characterized by the culture-independent 16S rRNA gene-based techniques terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism and sequence analysis. L. pertusa revealed a high microbial richness. Clone sequences were dominated by members of the Alpha- and Gammaproteobacteria. Other abundant taxa were Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria, Verrucomicrobia, Firmicutes, and Planctomycetes. The bacterial community of L. pertusa not only differed conspicuously from that of the environment but also varied with both the location and color variety of its host. Therefore, the microbial colonization cannot be termed "specific" sensu stricto. However, similarities to other coral-bacterium associations suggest the existence of "cold-water coral-specific" bacterial groups sensu lato. L. pertusa-associated bacteria appear to play a significant role in the nutrition of their host by degradation of sulfur compounds, cellulose, chitin, and end products of the coral's anaerobic metabolism. Some coral-associated microbes were regarded as opportunistic pathogens. Dominance of mixotrophic members of the Rhodobacteraceae in white L. pertusa could explain the wider dispersal of this phenotype by supplementary nutrition.

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* Corresponding author. Current address: Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences (IFM-GEOMAR), West Shore Campus, Duesternbrooker Weg 20, 24105 Kiel, Germany. Phone: 49 431 600-1987. Fax: 49 431 600-4452. E-mail: sneulinger{at}ifm-geomar.de

Published ahead of print on 10 October 2008.

Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://aem.asm.org/.

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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, December 2008, p. 7272-7285, Vol. 74, No. 23
0099-2240/08/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/AEM.01777-08
Copyright © 2008, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

This article has been cited by other articles:

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• Neulinger, S. C., Gartner, A., Jarnegren, J., Ludvigsen, M., Lochte, K., Dullo, W.-C. (2009). Tissue-Associated "Candidatus Mycoplasma corallicola" and Filamentous Bacteria on the Cold-Water Coral Lophelia pertusa (Scleractinia). Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 75: 1437-1444 [Abstract] [Full Text]