Hidden Potential in Coral Reefs

Researchers have identified coral reefs as a rich and largely untapped source of bioactive compounds with major potential for biotechnology and medicine. These ecosystems may hold the key to future antibiotics, cancer treatments, and industrial innovations, thanks to the vast diversity of small biomolecules produced by reef-associated organisms.

The expedition examined multiple components of the coral reef microbiome—the diverse community of microorganisms living in and around coral systems. A key focus was on bacteria specifically associated with corals, an area that had previously received limited attention.

“In the past, a lot of people looked at bacteria associated with the water, and there’s a lot of really interesting biodiversity associated with the water bacteria, but no one had really taken a deep dive into coral-specific bacteria,” she said.

Using genomic analysis, researchers studied microbial communities found in two types of stony coral and one type of fire coral, which are actually more closely related to jellyfish. From these samples, the team reconstructed over 13,000 microbial genomes.

“Ninety percent of what we found had never been found before,” Thurber said. “That’s a total of 3,700 new bacteria we discovered through this approach.” She noted that nearly all of these newly identified bacteria were unique to coral hosts and absent from surrounding seawater.

This discovery significantly expands the possibilities for developing new products derived from these organisms. The metabolites produced by reef bacteria—used for growth, communication, and defense—could be adapted for applications ranging from pharmaceuticals to industrial materials.

“They can be used for drugs, or for industrial purposes,” she pointed out. “They could be used in laundry detergents, or in the development of concrete, for example. If you’re developing new biotechnology materials, these biomolecules are really important for allowing scientists to create new synthetic products.”

Among the discoveries were new groups of Acidobacteriota, known for their metabolic versatility and previously unknown enzymatic capabilities. These findings may open new directions in protein engineering and synthetic biology.

The researchers also found that the biosynthetic capacity of coral microbiomes rivals—or even exceeds—that of sponges, which have traditionally been a primary focus in the search for bioactive compounds. Despite this, corals themselves had not been extensively studied in this context.

Importantly, this research only examined three coral species out of hundreds, suggesting that the full scope of microbial and chemical diversity in coral reefs remains largely unexplored. “What could we discover if we looked at all corals?” Thurber asked.

Alongside these scientific advances, the study highlights an urgent concern: coral reefs are rapidly declining due to climate change and human pressures. Many reef systems in the Pacific have already experienced severe bleaching. “It underscores the importance,” the researchers said, “of conserving coral reefs as vital reservoirs of molecular diversity.”

Tara Pacific Expedition

The Tara Pacific Expedition represents a milestone in marine science. Spanning from Panama to Papua New Guinea and from Australia to Japan, the mission conducted a vast east–west and south–north survey of coral ecosystems, covering over 100,000 kilometers and completing thousands of dives. Its goal was to map biodiversity patterns and chemical gradients across reefs at both local and global scales—an unprecedented approach across a region containing more than 40% of the world’s coral reefs.

The project also included investigations into microbial biogeography, particularly viruses in reef environments and surrounding waters, providing deeper insight into how these ecosystems function and respond to environmental change.

Congratulations

Congratulations to our own director, Dr. Rebecca Vega Thurber, for her outstanding contributions to this collaborative effort with the Tara Foundation. This work represents a major step forward in understanding coral reef microbiology and its vast potential.

Learn More

Be sure to check out the paper for more details on this groundbreaking research and its implications for marine biodiversity and biotechnology.

Adapted from reporting by Sonia Fernandez, “Researchers uncover a ‘treasure trove’ of bioactive molecules in coral reefs,” The Current, UC Santa Barbara, 2026.