ArticleThe ISME journal2018
Excess labile carbon promotes the expression of virulence factors in coral reef bacterioplankton.
Article in The ISME journal, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 33 papers.
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Who cites it
33 citing papers in PubMed, 80 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Phototrophic bacteria as potential probiotics for corals.npj biodiversity · 2025Review
- Invasive macroalgae shape chemical and microbial waterscapes on coral reefs.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Viralization as a microbial approach for enhancing coral reef restoration.The ISME journal · 2025Article
- Coral high molecular weight carbohydrates support opportunistic microbes in bacterioplankton from an algae-dominated reef.mSystems · 2024Article
- The coral microbiome in sickness, in health and in a changing world.Nature reviews. Microbiology · 2024Review
- Mitigation ofApplied and environmental microbiology · 2024Article
- Diversity and ecological function of urease-producing bacteria in the cultivation environment of Gracilariopsis lemaneiformis.Microbial ecology · 2024Article
- The road forward to incorporate seawater microbes in predictive reef monitoring.Environmental microbiome · 2024Review
- Chemically Mediated Interactions with Macroalgae Negatively Affect Coral Health but Induce Limited Changes in Coral Microbiomes.Microorganisms · 2023Article
- A meta-analysis of the stony coral tissue loss disease microbiome finds key bacteria in unaffected and lesion tissue in diseased colonies.ISME communications · 2023Article
- Red Sea Atlas of Coral-Associated Bacteria Highlights Common Microbiome Members and Their Distribution across Environmental Gradients-A Systematic Review.Microorganisms · 2022Review
- A roadmap to understanding diversity and function of coral reef-associated fungi.FEMS microbiology reviews · 2022Article
- Specific metabolites drive the deterministic assembly of diseased rhizosphere microbiome through weakening microbial degradation of autotoxin.Microbiome · 2022Article
- Greater functional diversity and redundancy of coral endolithic microbiomes align with lower coral bleaching susceptibility.The ISME journal · 2022Article
- Millennia-old coral holobiont DNA provides insight into future adaptive trajectories.Molecular ecology · 2022Article
- Contrasting Microbiome Dynamics of Putative Denitrifying Bacteria in Two Octocoral Species Exposed to Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC) and Warming.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2022Article
- Functional Prediction of Biological Profile During Eutrophication in Marine Environment.Bioinformatics and biology insights · 2022Article
- Macroalgal release of dissolved organic carbon in coral reef and its interaction with the bacteria associated with the coral Porites lutea.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 5 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Coastal pollution and algal cover are increasing on many coral reefs, resulting in higher dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations. High DOC concentrations strongly affect microbial activity in reef waters and select for copiotrophic, often potentially virulent microbial populations. High DOC concentrations on coral reefs are also hypothesized to be a determinant for switching microbial lifestyles from commensal to pathogenic, thereby contributing to coral reef degradation, but evidence is missing. In this study, we conducted ex situ incubations to assess gene expression of planktonic microbial populations under elevated concentrations of naturally abundant monosaccharides (glucose, galactose, mannose, and xylose) in algal exudates and sewage inflows. We assembled 27 near-complete (>70%) microbial genomes through metagenomic sequencing and determined associated expression patterns through metatranscriptomic sequencing. Differential gene expression analysis revealed a shift in the central carbohydrate metabolism and the induction of metalloproteases, siderophores, and toxins in Alteromonas, Erythrobacter, Oceanicola, and Alcanivorax populations. Sugar-specific induction of virulence factors suggests a mechanistic link for the switch from a commensal to a pathogenic lifestyle, particularly relevant during increased algal cover and human-derived pollution on coral reefs. Although an explicit test remains to be performed, our data support the hypothesis that increased availability of specific sugars changes net microbial community activity in ways that increase the emergence and abundance of opportunistic pathogens, potentially contributing to coral reef degradation.
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