Seasonal and algal diet-driven patterns of the digestive microbiota of the European abalone Haliotis tuberculata, a generalist marine herbivore.

This study highlights the establishment of a persistent core microbiota in the digestive gland of the abalone since its juvenile state and the presence of a less abundant and diet-specific core community. While composed of different microbial taxa compared to terrestrial herbivores, the digestive gland constitutes a particular niche in the abalone holobiont, where bacteria (i) may cooperate to degrade algal polysaccharides to products assimilable by the host or (ii) may have acquired these functions through gene transfer from the aerobic algal microbiota.