Review

.2017 Dec 15;5(4):81.

doi: 10.3390/microorganisms5040081.

The Seagrass Holobiont and Its Microbiome

Kelly Ugarelli¹, Seemanti Chakrabarti², Peeter Laas³, Ulrich Stingl⁴

Affiliations

¹ Ft. Lauderdale Research and Education Center, Department of Microbiology and Cell Science, UF/IFAS, University of Florida, Davie, FL 33314, USA. kugarelli@ufl.edu.
² Ft. Lauderdale Research and Education Center, Department of Microbiology and Cell Science, UF/IFAS, University of Florida, Davie, FL 33314, USA. seemanti@ufl.edu.
³ Ft. Lauderdale Research and Education Center, Department of Microbiology and Cell Science, UF/IFAS, University of Florida, Davie, FL 33314, USA. peeter.laas@ufl.edu.
⁴ Ft. Lauderdale Research and Education Center, Department of Microbiology and Cell Science, UF/IFAS, University of Florida, Davie, FL 33314, USA. ustingl@ufl.edu.

PMID:29244764
PMCID: PMC5748590
DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms5040081

Review

The Seagrass Holobiont and Its Microbiome

Kelly Ugarelli et al. Microorganisms.2017.

.2017 Dec 15;5(4):81.

doi: 10.3390/microorganisms5040081.

Authors

Kelly Ugarelli¹, Seemanti Chakrabarti², Peeter Laas³, Ulrich Stingl⁴

Affiliations

¹ Ft. Lauderdale Research and Education Center, Department of Microbiology and Cell Science, UF/IFAS, University of Florida, Davie, FL 33314, USA. kugarelli@ufl.edu.
² Ft. Lauderdale Research and Education Center, Department of Microbiology and Cell Science, UF/IFAS, University of Florida, Davie, FL 33314, USA. seemanti@ufl.edu.
³ Ft. Lauderdale Research and Education Center, Department of Microbiology and Cell Science, UF/IFAS, University of Florida, Davie, FL 33314, USA. peeter.laas@ufl.edu.
⁴ Ft. Lauderdale Research and Education Center, Department of Microbiology and Cell Science, UF/IFAS, University of Florida, Davie, FL 33314, USA. ustingl@ufl.edu.

PMID:29244764
PMCID: PMC5748590
DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms5040081

Abstract

Seagrass meadows are ecologically and economically important components of many coastal areas worldwide. Ecosystem services provided by seagrasses include reducing the number of microbial pathogens in the water, providing food, shelter and nurseries for many species, and decreasing the impact of waves on the shorelines. A global assessment reported that 29% of the known areal extent of seagrasses has disappeared since seagrass areas were initially recorded in 1879. Several factors such as direct and indirect human activity contribute to the demise of seagrasses. One of the main reasons for seagrass die-offs all over the world is increased sulfide concentrations in the sediment that result from the activity of sulfate-reducing prokaryotes, which perform the last step of the anaerobic food chain in marine sediments and reduce sulfate to H₂S. Recent seagrass die-offs, e.g., in the Florida and Biscayne Bays, were caused by an increase in pore-water sulfide concentrations in the sediment, which were the combined result of unfavorable environmental conditions and the activities of various groups of heterotrophic bacteria in the sulfate-rich water-column and sediment that are stimulated through increased nutrient concentrations. Under normal circumstances, seagrasses are able to withstand low levels of sulfide, probably partly due to microbial symbionts, which detoxify sulfide by oxidizing it to sulfur or sulfate. Novel studies are beginning to give greater insights into the interactions of microbes and seagrasses, not only in the sulfur cycle. Here, we review the literature on the basic ecology and biology of seagrasses and focus on studies describing their microbiome.

Keywords: holobiont; microbiome; rhizosphere; seagrass; sulfide.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

**Figure 1**
The most important interconnected processes within the seagrass holobiont are related to processes in the carbon-, nitrogen- and sulfur cycles. Photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) determines the photosynthetic activity of the seagrass plant that determines how much carbon dioxide is fixed, how much dissolved organic carbon (DOC) is exuded from the leaves and root system, and how much oxygen is transported into the rhizosphere. Oxygen transportation into the rhizosphere alters the redox conditions in the rhizosphere, differentiating it from the surrounding sediments that are usually anoxic and sulfidic.

**Figure 2**
The most abundant bacterial (**white fonts**) and fungal groups (**orange fonts**) identified within different compartments of the seagrass holobiont.

See this image and copyright information in PMC

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References

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The Seagrass Holobiont and Its Microbiome

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The Seagrass Holobiont and Its Microbiome

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