Prokaryotic communities associated with the octocoral Litophyton sp. and its surrounding environments

This study compares the prokaryotic communities associated with the tropical octocoral Litophyton sp., surrounding seawater, and sediments from a natural reef in the Red Sea and a long-term tropical aquarium mesocosm (Oceanario de Lisboa) designed to replicate natural reef ecosystems. High-throughput 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing was employed using Illumina MiSeq technology.