The smallest marine microbes share nutrients - brieflyĪfter finding these bacterial clusters, we wanted to know what kind of bacteria they were. Why in the tentacles? We don’t really know, but we think this could be linked to nutrition or defence, as tentacles are involved in both catching prey and repelling predators. We found that bacteria formed large clusters in the tentacles of our corals. When excited by a laser beam, these probes (and hence the bacteria) light up. Essentially, we add fluorescent probes to the coral that specifically bind to bacteria. The first challenge was to see the bacteria – they are very small.įor this, we used a technique called ‘ fluorescence in situ hybridisation’. Picture: Justin Maire A glowing needle in a haystack The mouth of the polyp is in the centre, surrounded by tentacles. The coral tissues appear in green and bacteria appear in red. Fluorescence microscopy image of a coral polyp (Pocillopora acuta). These samples were shipped to our laboratory at the University of Melbourne to investigate the elusive tissue-associated bacteria. To find out more, samples were taken from a long-term experiment on the Great Barrier Reef coral species Pocillopora acuta carried out at the Townsville-based Australian Institute of Marine Science. Very little information is available on tissue-associated bacteria, yet they are likely some of the most important members of the coral microbiome. While most of these bacteria live in the mucus layer that covers the coral surface, some bacteria occur inside the coral tissues. So, understanding the complex relationships between coral and bacteria is critical for understanding how corals function.īacteria can help corals with several biological processes, like nitrogen or sulphur movement and processing, or the production of antibacterial compounds that protect corals against pathogens. Just like humans, corals have a diverse bacterial microbiome that is tightly linked to their health.
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