Our research at the Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (CSIC – UPF) focuses on the study of host-associated microbes and the effect of global warming on the microbiomes of benthic and planktonic marine animals. We combine a wet lab for experiments with a dry lab for bioinformatics, enabling the broadest possible range of approaches.

The eukaryotic microbiome. The study of micro-eukaryotes associated with animals has largely been restricted to visual identification or molecular targeting of particular groups. High-throughput sequencing has been limited because the 18S rRNA gene — the standard barcode for microeukaryote ecology — is also present in host animals, causing host sequences to dominate the readout. Building on our work on coral-associated microeukaryotes, we have implemented an approach that selectively avoids amplification of metazoan host genes, opening the door to high-throughput study of microeukaryotic communities in a myriad of environments, from the coral surface to the human gut.

Effects of ocean warming on marine animal microbiomes. Ongoing climate change has strong impacts on free-living marine microbial communities, but the effects of global warming on host-associated microbiomes remain poorly understood. Microbiomes have strong influences on host evolution, physiology, and ecology. We study how environmental changes resulting from global warming affect the composition and function of microbiomes in key members of the marine fauna — currently focusing on corals, teleost fish, and zooplankton — and how these changes feed back onto the host.