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Coral microbiomes are known to play important roles in organismal health, response to environmental stress, and resistance to disease. The coral microbiome contains diverse assemblages of resident bacteria, ranging from defensive and metabolic symbionts to opportunistic bacteria that may turn harmful in compromised hosts. However, little is known about how these bacterial interactions influence the mechanism and controls of overall structure, stability, and function of the microbiome. We sought to test how coral microbiome dynamics were affected by interactions between two bacteria:  Vibrio coralliilyticus , a known temperature-dependent pathogen of some corals, and  Halobacteriovorax , a unique bacterial predator of  Vibrio  and other gram-negative bacteria. We challenged reef-building coral with  V. coralliilyticus  in the presence or absence of  Halobacteriovorax  predators, and monitored microbial community dynamics with 16S rRNA gene profiling time-series.  Vibrio coralliilyticus  inoculation increased the mean relative abundance of  Vibrios  by greater than 35% from the 4 to 8 hour time point, but not in the 24 & 32 hour time points. However, strong secondary effects of the  Vibrio  challenge were also observed for the rest of the microbiome such as increased richness (observed species), and reduced stability (increased beta-diversity). Moreover, after the transient increase in  Vibrios,  two lineages of bacteria ( Rhodobacterales  and  Cytophagales ) increased in coral tissues, suggesting that  V. coralliilyticus  challenge opens niche space for these known opportunists.  Rhodobacterales  increased from 6.99% (±0.05 SEM) to a maximum mean relative abundance of 48.75% (±0.14 SEM) in the final time point and  Cytophagales  from <0.001% to 3.656%.  Halobacteriovorax  predators are commonly present at low-abundance on coral surfaces. Based on the keystone role of predators in many ecosystems, we hypothesized that  Halobacteriovorax  predators might help protect corals by consuming foreign or “alien” gram negative bacteria.  Halobacteriovorax  inoculation also altered the microbiome but to a lesser degree than  V. coralliilyticus , and  Halobacteriovorax  were never detected after inoculation. Simultaneous challenge with both  V. coralliilyticus  and predatory  Halobacteriovorax  eliminated the increase in  V. coralliilyticus , ameliorated changes to the rest of the coral microbiome, and prevented the secondary blooms of opportunistic  Rhodobacterales  and  Cytophagales  seen in the  V. coralliilyticus  challenge. These data suggest that, under certain circumstances, host-associated bacterial predators may mitigate the ability of other bacteria to destabilize the microbiome.

Alien vs. predator: bacterial challenge alters coral microbiomes unless controlled byHalobacteriovoraxpredators