Compositional variation between high and low prokaryotic diversity coral reef biotopes translates to different predicted metagenomic gene content.

In a previous study, we identified host species that housed high and low diversity prokaryotic communities. In the present study, we expand on this and assessed the prokaryotic communities associated with seawater, sediment and 11 host species from 7 different phyla in a Taiwanese coral reef setting. The host taxa sampled included hard, octo- and black corals, molluscs, bryozoans, flatworms, fish and sea urchins.

Raineya orbicola gen. nov., sp. nov. a slightly thermophilic bacterium of the phylum Bacteroidetes and the description of Raineyaceae fam. nov.

An isolate, designated SPSPC-11, with an optimum growth temperature of about 50 °C and an optimum pH for growth between 7.5 and 8.0, was recovered from a hot spring in central Portugal.