Among Caribbean coral reefs, Porites astreoides species increased in abundance despite, for other scleractinians large-scale declines coral cover are observed. Such resilient and adaptive potential of Porites members might by explain by a microbiome composition, which helps to protect them under changing environmental conditions or compromised health. In this study, culturable associated bacteria communities’ from the coral mucus and tissues will be investigated. In Guadeloupe, a total of 224 bacterial strains were isolated from Porites astreoides coral. More interestingly, 4 pure clones isolated exhibited strong activity against the growth of the marine pathogen Vibrio splendidus. By producing antimicrobial metabolites, these bacteria strains may protect Porites astreoides against colonization and growth of invasive microbes and pathogens.
The project BENEBACT will enable us to collect and analyze the antimicrobial properties of the culturable bacteria associated with massive coral of the genus Porites collected over coral reefs in Guadeloupe, La Réunion, New-Caledonia and French Polynesia. Our results could revealed the existence of beneficial bacteria species that might play a role in coral fitness and resilience. These findings could contribute to the coral microbial-strategy therapy (Peixoto et al., 2017), and to the discovery of potential new sources of bioactive molecules from marine microorganisms.
Project coordinator:
Malika René-Trouillefou, Assistant professor atUniversité des Antilles, Guadeloupe, équipe RECAP de BOREA, malika.trouillefou@univ-antilles.fr
Partners:
Benzoni Francesca (IRD, UMR Entropie), Berteaux-Lecellier Véronique (CNRS, UMR Entropie), Bouchon Claude (Université des Antilles, Unité BOREA), Bruggemann Henrich (Université de la Réunion, UMR Entropie), Guillaume Mireille (MNHN, unité BOREA), Hédouin Laetitia (CNRS, CRIOBE), Lopez Pascal (CNRS, Unité BOREA)
Funding: LABEX CORAIL