Bacterial Communities Associated with the Octocorals Erythropodium caribaeorum and Antillogorgia elisabethae

The octocorals Erythropodium caribaeorum and Antillogorgia elisabethae are common members of reef communities in the Caribbean and have been shown to contain the highly active terpenes – eleutherobin and pseudopterosins respectively. Bacterial communities associated with these octocorals have been identified, through the use of culture dependent and culture independent bacterial libraries. For E. caribaeorum this was achieved by comparing the bacterial libraries obtained from corals collected at various times and from various locations throughout the Caribbean. The bacterial community of A. elisabethae was assessed by comparing the bacterial community associated with the zooxantheallae and larvae, to that of the coral holobiont. Both the zooxantheallae and larvae have previously been shown to be associated with pseudopterosin biosynthesis. In addition, the data obtained from the larvae provide insight into how symbiotic bacteria may be transmitted vertically.