[Coral-List] New paper on green sulfur endolithic bacteria in coral

[sonny lee]

Dear everyone,

Please see our recent paper published in "Limnology and Oceanography" on
green sulfur bacteria found within the skeleton of *Isopora palifera*. On
behalf of the authors I hope you find this paper interesting, and please
don't hesitate to ask any questions.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/lno.10277/full

Title : Prevalence of potential nitrogen-fixing, green sulfur bacteria in
the skeleton of reef-building coral *Isopora palifera*
Abstract:

Microbial endoliths, which inhabit interior pores of rocks, skeletons and
coral, are ubiquitous in terrestrial and marine environments. In this
study, various colored layers stratified the endolithic environment within
the skeleton of *Isopora palifera*; however, there was a distinct
green-pigmented layer in the skeleton (beneath the living coral tissue). To
characterize diversity of endolithic microorganisms, 16S ribosomal RNA gene
amplicon pyrosequencing was used to investigate bacterial communities in
the green layer of eight *I. palifera* coral colonies retrieved from two
locations on Green Island, Taiwan. The dominant bacterial group in the
green layer belonged to the bacterial phylum Chlorobi, green sulfur
bacteria capable of anoxygenic photo- synthesis and nitrogen fixation.
Specifically, bacteria of the genus *Prosthecochloris* were dominant in
this green layer. To our knowledge, this is the first study to provide a
detailed profile of endolithic bacteria in coral and to determine the
prevalence of *Prosthecochloris* in the green layer. Based on our findings,
we infer that these bacteria may have an important functional role in the
coral holobiont in the nutrient-limited coral reef ecosystem.

Sincerely,

Sonny T M Lee
PhD Candidate, University of Auckland

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