I have this crazy idea of drawing up with a pipette the bacteria in coral polyps or coral mucus in an attempt to get bacteria that may comprise of the coral holobiont and use that to grow our bacteria concoction.
I was reading this article:
The coral microbiome: towards an understanding of the molecular mechanisms of coral–microbiota interactions
Here is a diagram in the research article showing what a coral polyp holobiont may look like:
In the research article, it states the following: "The best-known coral symbionts are select bacteria and members of the dinoflagellate family Symbiodiniaceae (collectively known previously as the genus
Symbiodinium)."
The article further states the relationship of the bacteria group with coral as "The coral–Symbiodiniaceae symbiosis is likely highly complex as other endosymbiotic associations. Research indicates that metabolite exchange between Symbiodiniaceae and corals involve sugars, lipids, and nitrogen compounds (reviewed in Davy et al.
2012)."
Therefore if I postulate that if I can somehow use a healthy coral with coral polyps and 'harvest' the bacterial holobiont. Wouldn't it be more beneficial to use these bacteria to grow our bacteria concoction? These bacteria may potentially help embed themselves back into the coral polyp/ coral holobiont and boost the growth of corals also?
Of course there is the risk of growing unwanted or harmful strains as well especially if we harvest from sickly corals which may be infected with bacteria such as vibrio sp.
Just thinking out loud here and hoping if others may have insight into this ideal.
