Investigating Symbiotic Microbial Community Variation Across Different Genotypes

Abstract

Understanding the roles and relationships within the coral microbiome may further help scientists understand coral’s resilience to climate change. Previous studies have examined the coral microbiome to delineate coral microbial communities (Meyer et al., 2014; Hernandez-Agreda et al., 2017; Kellogg & Pratte, 2021). Further, scholars have previously identified species-specific associations within the coral microbiome (Ritchie & Smith, 1997; Koren & Rosenberg, 2006; Carlos et al., 2013; Hernandez-Agreda et al., 2017). However, a gap in the literature exists examining the genotypic variation within one species while controlling for abiotic factors. This study hypothesizes that genotype may play a significant role in microbiome diversity by investigating the microbial communities of five different genotypes of Porites astreoides maintained at Biosphere 2. While controlling for abiotic factors, various bioinformatics techniques through QIIME2 identified the taxonomic composition of each sample’s microbiome and Alpha and Beta Diversity metrics. Alpha and Beta Diversity metrics produced no statistically significant results when testing the relationship between genotype and microbial community. This study suggests that external abiotic factors may significantly impact a coral’s microbiome composition more than its genotype. Alternatively, individual species may show a high degree of specificity in their microbial associations among individuals and environments, with proximity among individuals of a species playing a first-order role in the differences in microbial community.