Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39754287›Full record

ArticleAnimal microbiome2025

Evidence for microbially-mediated tradeoffs between growth and defense throughout coral evolution.

Hannah E Epstein, Tanya Brown, Ayọmikun O Akinrinade, Ryan McMinds, F Joseph Pollock, Dylan Sonett, Styles Smith, David G Bourne, Carolina S Carpenter, Rob Knight and 5 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Animal microbiome, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. EvaluatingFrontiers in microbiology · 2026
    Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Influence of reef habitat on coral microbial associations.Environmental microbiology reports · 2024
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

15 authors.

Hannah E Epstein *School of Life Sciences, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, Essex, CO4 3SQ, UK. hannah.epstein@essex.ac.uk.
Tanya Brown *School of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, Division of Biological Sciences, University of Washington Bothell, UWBB-277, Bothell, WA, 98011, USA.
Ayọmikun O AkinrinadeSchool of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, Division of Biological Sciences, University of Washington Bothell, UWBB-277, Bothell, WA, 98011, USA.
Ryan McMindsDepartment of Microbiology, Oregon State University, 226 Nash Hall, Corvallis, OR, 97331, USA.
F Joseph PollockDepartment of Biology, Pennsylvania State University, 208 Mueller Lab, University Park, Philadelphia, PA, 16802, USA.
Dylan SonettSchool of Pharmacy, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 98195, USA.
Styles SmithDepartment of Biology, Pennsylvania State University, 208 Mueller Lab, University Park, Philadelphia, PA, 16802, USA.
David G BourneCollege of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, 4811, Australia.
Carolina S CarpenterScripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA.
Rob KnightCenter for Microbiome Innovation, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, 92093, USA.
Bette L WillisCollege of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, 4811, Australia.
Mónica MedinaDepartment of Biology, Pennsylvania State University, 208 Mueller Lab, University Park, Philadelphia, PA, 16802, USA.
Joleah B LambDepartment of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA.
Rebecca Vega ThurberDepartment of Microbiology, Oregon State University, 226 Nash Hall, Corvallis, OR, 97331, USA.
Jesse R Zaneveld *School of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, Division of Biological Sciences, University of Washington Bothell, UWBB-277, Bothell, WA, 98011, USA.

Funding

National Science Foundation 1442306National Science Foundation 1942647National Science Foundation 2006244
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundEvolutionary tradeoffs between life-history strategies are important in animal evolution. Because microbes can influence multiple aspects of host physiology, including growth rate and susceptibility to disease or stress, changes in animal-microbial symbioses have the potential to mediate life-history tradeoffs. Scleractinian corals provide a biodiverse, data-rich, and ecologically-relevant host system to explore this idea.

resultsUsing a comparative approach, we tested if coral microbiomes correlate with disease susceptibility across 425 million years of coral evolution by conducting a cross-species coral microbiome survey (the "Global Coral Microbiome Project") and combining the results with long-term global disease prevalence and coral trait data. Interpreting these data in their phylogenetic context, we show that microbial dominance predicts disease susceptibility, and traced this dominance-disease association to a single putatively beneficial symbiont genus, Endozoicomonas. Endozoicomonas relative abundance in coral tissue explained 30% of variation in disease susceptibility and 60% of variation in microbiome dominance across 40 coral genera, while also correlating strongly with high growth rates.

conclusionsThese results demonstrate that the evolution of Endozoicomonas symbiosis in corals correlates with both disease prevalence and growth rate, and suggest a mediating role. Exploration of the mechanistic basis for these findings will be important for our understanding of how microbial symbioses influence animal life-history tradeoffs.

Indexed as

Coral diseaseCoral microbiomeCoral reefsEvolutionEvolutionary tradeoffs

Identifiers

PMID39754287
PMCPMC11697511

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.