Adapting with Microbial Help: Microbiome Flexibility Facilitates Rapid Responses to Environmental Change

Area of Science:

• Microbiology
• Ecology
• Marine Biology

Background:

• Animals and plants function as metaorganisms, with associated microbes influencing their health and fitness.
• Environmental changes, such as thermal variability, can impact the metaorganism-microbe relationship.
• Previous studies show coral microbiomes adapt to new environments and that beneficial bacteria enhance stress tolerance.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the hypothesis that microbiome alteration is a rapid response mechanism to environmental change.
• To discuss how varying degrees of microbiome flexibility in metaorganisms reflect different adaptation strategies.
• To identify future research directions in microbiome flexibility and metaorganism adaptation.

Main Methods:

• Review of reciprocal transplant experiments with reef corals.
• Analysis of coral microbiome adaptation to thermally variable habitats.
• Consideration of coral inoculation with beneficial bacteria to assess stress tolerance.
• Discussion of microbiome flexibility scales across different organisms.

Main Results:

• Coral microbiomes demonstrate adaptation to different thermal environments and change upon transplantation.
• Inoculation with specific bacteria enhances coral stress tolerance.
• Corals exhibit varying capacities for flexible association with different bacterial partners.

Conclusions:

• Microbiome flexibility is a widespread phenomenon enabling organisms to respond swiftly to environmental shifts.
• Adapting with microbial assistance provides an alternative, rapid pathway for organismal adaptation.
• Understanding microbiome flexibility is crucial for predicting metaorganism resilience in changing environments.