Geographic Specific Coral-Associated Ammonia-Oxidizing Archaea in the Northern Gulf of Eilat (Red Sea)

Coral holobionts are densely populated with microorganisms that are essential for their well-being. Here we compared the diversity of the archaeal ammonia monooxygenase alpha subunit (amoA) gene from three coral genera, Acanthastrea sp., Favia sp., and Fungia granulosa, from the Gulf of Eilat, Red Sea. At 99% similarity, archaeal amoA from the three coral genera shared 71% of their cloned sequences, while the Favia and Acanthastrea presented a few genus-specific clones. In addition, the sequences retrieved in our samples displayed lower similarity to amoA sequences previously found in association with other coral species from different geographic regions. This finding suggests that the populations of ammonia-oxidizing archaea are less host-specific and more geographically dependent.