Microbiome plasticity sustains host development across distinct asexual reproductive modes in a scyphozoan jellyfish

Host-associated microbiomes play a crucial role in animal development, particularly during metamorphosis, yet their functional features remain underexplored in early-diverging metazoan like cnidarians. In the symbiotic jellyfish Cassiopea sp., which harbors both photosynthetic algal symbionts and diverse bacterial communities, asexual reproduction occurs via two distinct modes, strobilation and planuloid reproduction analogous to bilaterian metamorphosis. Using full-length 16S rRNA sequencing with functional prediction, this study examined microbiome dynamics across these asexual reproduction modes.