Bacterial Microbiota of , the Coral-Isolated Chlorophyte Ectosymbiont, at Contrasted Salinities.

Microscopic filaments of the siphonous green algae (Ulvophyceae, Bryopsidales) colonize and dissolve the calcium carbonate skeletons of coral colonies in reefs of contrasted salinities. Here, we analyzed their bacterial community's composition and plasticity in response to salinity. Multiple cultures of coral-isolated strains from two distinct L lineages representative of IndoPacific environmental phylotypes were pre-acclimatized (>9 months) to three ecologically relevant reef salinities: 32.9, 35.1, and 40.2 psu. Bacterial phylotypes were visualized for the first time at filament scale by CARD-FISH in algal tissue sections, within siphons, at their surface or in their mucilage. -associated microbiota, characterized by bacterial 16S rDNA metabarcoding of cultured thalli and their corresponding supernatants, were structured by host genotype ( strain lineage), with dominant Kiloniellaceae or Rhodospirillaceae (Alphaproteobacteria, Rhodospirillales) depending on lineage, and shifted Rhizobiales' abundances in response to the salinity increase. A small core microbiota composed of seven ASVs (~1.5% of thalli ASVs, 19-36% cumulated proportions) was persistent across three salinities in both genotypes, with putative intracellular Amoebophilaceae and Rickettsiales_AB1, as well as Hyphomonadaceae and Rhodospirillaceae also detected within environmental (-colonized) coral skeletons. This novel knowledge on the taxonomic diversity of bacteria paves the way to functional interaction studies within the coral holobiont.