Effects of thermal stress on amount, composition, and antibacterial properties of coral mucus

PeerJ

article

Rachel M. Wright¹  Marie E. Strader²  Heather M. Genuise²  Mikhail Matz² 

[1] Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School;Department of Integrative Biology, University of Texas at Austin;Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Marine Biology, University of California

关键词: Coral reef;    Mucus;    Climate change;    Coral bleaching;    Acropora cervicornis;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.6849

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

The surface mucus layer of reef-building corals supports feeding, sediment clearing, and protection from pathogenic invaders. As much as half of the fixed carbon supplied by the corals’ photosynthetic symbionts is incorporated into expelled mucus. It is therefore reasonable to expect that coral bleaching (disruption of the coral–algal symbiosis) would affect mucus production. Since coral mucus serves as an important nutrient source for the entire reef community, this could have substantial ecosystem-wide consequences. In this study, we examined the effects of heat stress-induced coral bleaching on the composition and antibacterial properties of coral mucus. In a controlled laboratory thermal challenge, stressed corals produced mucus with higher protein (β = 2.1, p < 0.001) and lipid content (β = 15.7, p = 0.02) and increased antibacterial activity (likelihood ratio = 100, p < 0.001) relative to clonal controls. These results are likely explained by the expelled symbionts in the mucus of bleached individuals. Our study suggests that coral bleaching could immediately impact the nutrient flux in the coral reef ecosystem via its effect on coral mucus.

【 授权许可】

CC BY