Recent
works
has
highlighted
the
contribution
of
microbes
to
animal
function.
In
this
regard,
the
microbial
community
associated
with
corals
has
become
a
growing
field
of
research
in
order
to
understand
how
microbes
contribute
to
the
host
organisms’
response
to
environmental
changes.
It
has
been
shown
that
microbes
associated
with
corals
have
important
functions
in
the
coral
holobiont
such
as
immunity
and
nutrient
assimilation.
However,
corals
are
notoriously
difficult
to
work
with.
To
this
end,
the
sea
anemone
Aiptasia
is
becoming
a
model
organism
for
coral
symbiosis.
Given
the
importance
of
host-microbiome
interactions,
the
topic
of
this
thesis
is
to
assess
microbial
structure
of
Aiptasia,
culture
prominent
bacterial
members,
and
compare
bacterial
community
structure
to
corals.
Different
molecular
methods
have
been
applied
using
16S
rRNA
bacterial
gene
fragments
to
characterize
the
microbial
composition
of
Aiptasia.
16S
rRNA
gene
sequence
derived
from
cultured
bacteria
was
compared
to
16S
rRNA
gene
sequences
retrieved
from
native
Red
Sea
Aiptasia.
Inter-individual
as
well
as
methodological
differences
were
found
to
account
for
variance
in
microbiome
composition.
However,
all
approaches
showed
a
highly
abundant
microbial
taxon
belonging
to
the
genus
Alteromonas
in
all
samples.
The
Alteromonas
species
was
successfully
isolated
for
further
research
targeting
microbiome
selection
mechanisms
in
Aiptasia.
Future
investigations
by
using
different
molecular
tools
will
help
to
define
the
functions
and
relationship
between
the
Aiptasia
and
its
complex
microbiome.
| Date of Award | Jan 2016 |
|---|
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|
| Awarding Institution | - Biological, Environmental Sciences and Engineering
|
|---|
| Supervisor | Christian Voolstra (Supervisor) |
|---|
- Aiptasia
- Microbiome
- Alteromonas
- Coral
- Native Bacteria
- Culturable Bacteria