Journal: bioRxiv

Article Title: Comparative genomics and microbiome profiling reveal a conserved Vibrio rich mucus microbiota of the Florida false coral ( Ricordea florida )

doi: 10.64898/2026.09.17.752451

Figure Lengend Snippet: (A) Corallimorpharian mucus collection. After initial salt water dripped off animals and plates, mucus was collected from adult Corallimorpharian animals by tilting over 1.5 mL centrifuge tubes and collecting the run-off. B,C) R. florida mucus exhibit consistently higher CFU counts than those that harbored seawater. Corallimorph mucus (A) and surrounding sea water (C) were cultured on Marine Agar plates and the number of colony forming units were quantified. ( D) Corallimorpharian mucus harbors morphologically diverse bacterial isolates. Colonies isolated from R. florida mucus exhibited substantial variation in pigmentation and morphology, including dark purple/black (A), translucent cream (B-D), white (E), and peach (F) morphotypes. Isolates also differed in colony architecture and growth characteristics. Among these, one isolate displayed an unusual agar-pitting phenotype (G), suggesting extracellular agar-degrading activity. ( E,F) R. florida were infected with A2 Vibrio . Clonal polyps from control treatment (E) and high bacterial exposure (F) were pooled in equal quantities for mRNA library construction and sequencing using MiSeq technology (Illumina).

Article Snippet: Some isolates were re-sequenced using the Plasmidsaurus Whole Genome Sequencing service (Oxford Nanopore, R10.4.1 long-reads and de novo genome assembly).

Techniques: Cell Culture, Isolation, Morphology, Cream, Activity Assay, Infection, Control, Sequencing

Journal: bioRxiv

Article Title: Comparative genomics and microbiome profiling reveal a conserved Vibrio rich mucus microbiota of the Florida false coral ( Ricordea florida )

doi: 10.64898/2026.09.17.752451

Figure Lengend Snippet: A. Relative abundance (%) of bacteria Genera collected from polyps from distinct tank systems reveals a dominance of Vibrio . Columns of each bar graph represent a polyp (A or B) and tank collected from is noted with the number. B. Polyps from the same tank show no difference in bacterial assemblage. A principal component analysis (PCA) reveals no differences in structure of bacterial communities between tank systems (12, 14, and 15 represented by blue, green and purple circles). X and Y axes show Principal Component 1 and Principal Component 2 that explain 56% and 22% of the total variance, respectively. (C). Shared and unique ASVs among corallimorph-associated bacterial communities. UpSet plot showing the overlap of amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) among Tanks 12, 14, and 15. An ASV was considered present within a tank only if it was detected in both animals sampled from that tank. Numbers indicate ASVs unique to individual tanks or shared among multiple tanks.

Article Snippet: Some isolates were re-sequenced using the Plasmidsaurus Whole Genome Sequencing service (Oxford Nanopore, R10.4.1 long-reads and de novo genome assembly).

Techniques: Bacteria, Analysis, Amplification, Sequencing