Microbe and viruses are key players in both healthy and degraded coral reefs. We have shown how these communities response to both global and local stressors using metagenomics (i.e., shotgun sequencing of community DNA) to characterize the microbial communities within the coral holobiont, as well as in the surrounding water column.
Results/Conclusions
Water column metagenomes showed that the microbial and viral communities changed from an even mix of autotrophs and heterotrophs to predominantly heterotrophs along a gradient of human disturbance and oceanographic conditions. In metagenomic studies of coral-associated microbial communities, we have found that the endolithic fungi are important to nitrogen recycling within the holobiont. Finally, metagenomic analyses of viral communities from corals showed that herpes viruses are induced by natural and anthropogenic stressors. Together, these studies show how human disturbances are changing the complex interactions of corals, viruses, and microbes.
