Abstract
Previous research on the Caribbean coral Montastraea cavernosa reported the presence of cyanobacterial endosymbionts and nitrogen fixation in orange, but not brown, colonies. We compared the diversity of nifH gene sequences between these two color morphs at three locations in the Caribbean and found that the nifH sequences recovered from M. cavernosa were consistent with previous studies on corals where members of both the α-proteobacteria and cyanobacteria were recovered. A number of nifH operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were significantly more abundant in the orange compared to the brown morphs, and one specific OTU (OTU 17), a cyanobacterial nifH sequence similar to others from corals and sponges and related to the cyanobacterial genus Cyanothece, was found in all orange morphs of M. cavernosa at all locations. The nifH diversity reported here, from a community perspective, was not significantly different between orange and brown morphs of M. cavernosa.
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Acknowledgments
This research was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, National Geographic Society, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Institute of Undersea Science and Technology, the University of New Hampshire Marine Program, and the American Museum of Natural History Lerner-Grey Fellowship for Marine Research. The work presented here was submitted as a part of the requirements for the completion of Nathan Olson’s Master’s degree to the Graduate School at the University of New Hampshire. This manuscript was improved by constructive comments from Anton Post.
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Communicated by Joerg Overmann.
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Olson, N.D., Lesser, M.P. Diazotrophic diversity in the Caribbean coral, Montastraea cavernosa . Arch Microbiol 195, 853–859 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-013-0937-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00203-013-0937-z