FN Archimer Export Format
PT J
TI The Assimilation of Diazotroph-Derived Nitrogen by Scleractinian Corals Depends on Their Metabolic Status
BT 
AF BEDNARZ, Vanessa N.
   GROVER, Renaud
   MAGUER, Jean-Francois
   FINE, Maoz
   FERRIER-PAGES, Christine
AS 1:1;2:1;3:2;4:3,4;5:1;
FF 1:;2:;3:;4:;5:;
C1 Ctr Scientif Monaco, Marine Dept, Monaco, Monaco.
   Inst Univ Europeen Mer, CNRS, IRD, LEMAR UMR 6539 UBO, Plouzane, France.
   Bar Ilan Univ, Mina & Everard Goodman Fac Life Sci, Ramat Gan, Israel.
   Interuniv Inst Marine Sci, Elat, Israel.
C2 CENTRE SCIENT MONACO, MONACO
   UBO, FRANCE
   UNIV BAR ILAN, ISRAEL
   INTERUNIV INST MARINE SCI EILAT, ISRAEL
UM LEMAR
IN DOAJ
IF 6.689
TC 58
UR https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00616/72832/72319.pdf
LA English
DT Article
AB Tropical corals are associated with a diverse community of dinitrogen (N-2)-fixing prokaryotes (diazotrophs) providing the coral an additional source of bioavailable nitrogen (N) in oligotrophic waters. The overall activity of these diazotrophs changes depending on the current environmental conditions, but to what extent it affects the assimilation of diazotroph-derived N (DDN) by corals is still unknown. Here, in a series of N-15(2) tracer experiments, we directly quantified DDN assimilation by scleractinian corals from the Red Sea exposed to different environmental conditions. We show that DDN assimilation strongly varied with the corals ' metabolic status or with phosphate availability in the water. The very autotrophic shallow-water (similar to 5 m) corals showed low or no DDN assimilation, which significantly increased under elevated phosphate availability (3 mu M). Corals that depended more on heterotrophy (i.e., bleached and deep-water [similar to 45 m] corals) assimilated significantly more DDN, which contributed up to 15% of the corals ' N demand (compared to 1% in shallow corals). Furthermore, we demonstrate that a substantial part of the DDN assimilated by deep corals was likely obtained from heterotrophic feeding on fixed N compounds and/or diazotrophic cells in the mucus. Conversely, in shallow corals, the net release of mucus, rich in organic carbon compounds, likely enhanced diazotroph abundance and activity and thereby the release of fixed N to the pelagic and benthic reef community. Overall, our results suggest that DDN assimilation by corals varies according to the environmental conditions and is likely linked to the capacity of the coral to acquire nutrients from seawater. IMPORTANCE Tropical corals are associated with specialized bacteria (i.e., diazotrophs) able to transform dinitrogen (N-2) gas into a bioavailable form of nitrogen, but how much of this diazotroph-derived nitrogen (DDN) is assimilated by corals under different environmental conditions is still unknown. Here, we used N-15(2) labeling to trace the fate of DDN within the coral symbiosis. We show that DDN is assimilated by both the animal host and the endosymbiotic algae. In addition, the amount of assimilated DDN was significantly greater in mesophotic, bleached, or phosphorus-enriched corals than in surface corals, which almost did not take up this nitrogen form. DDN can thus be of particular importance for the nutrient budget of corals whenever they are limited by the availability of other forms of dissolved nutrients. 
PY 2017
PD JAN
SO Mbio
SN 2150-7511
PU Amer Soc Microbiology
VL 8
IS 1
UT 000395835000003
DI 10.1128/mBio.02058-16
ID 72832
ER

EF