The Red Sea is a suitable model for studying coral reefs under climate change due to its strong environmental gradient that provides a window into future global warming scenarios. For instance, corals in the southern Red Sea thrive at temperatures predicted to occur at the end of the century in other biogeographic regions. Corals in the Red Sea thrive under contrasting thermal and environmental regimes along their latitudinal gradient. Because microbial communities associated with corals contribute to host physiology, we conducted a systematic review of the known diversity of Red Sea coral-associated bacteria, considering geographic location and host species. Our assessment comprises 54 studies of 67 coral host species employing cultivation-dependent and cultivation-independent techniques. Most studies have been conducted in the central and northern Red Sea, while the southern and western regions remain largely unexplored. Our data also show that, despite the high diversity of corals in the Red Sea, the most studied corals were Pocillopora verrucosa, Dipsastraea spp., Pleuractis granulosa, and Stylophora pistillata. Microbial diversity was dominated by bacteria from the class Gammaproteobacteria, while the most frequently occurring bacterial families included Rhodobacteraceae and Vibrionaceae. We also identified bacterial families exclusively associated with each of the studied coral orders: Scleractinia (n = 125), Alcyonacea (n = 7), and Capitata (n = 2). This review encompasses 20 years of research in the Red Sea, providing a baseline compendium for coral-associated bacterial diversity.

The oceans that cover much of our planet are important for billions of people. But some human activities, like polluting the environment and catching too many fish, harm our oceans. Because of this, the United Nations created a big goal called Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14, Life Below Water, to help us make the oceans healthy again. Scientists have been observing and studying the oceans to come up with new ideas to save these waters and all the creatures that live there. Since all living things are connected, when the oceans are healthy, we can be healthy, too. One group of scientists has created a special place called the Coral Probiotics Village. There, they are working together to test new technologies and treatments to protect coral reefs and the organisms that depend on them. With this research, scientists can help people make better choices and help countries work together to take care of our big, blue planet!