Certain coral individuals exhibit enhanced resistance to thermal
bleaching, yet the specific microbial assemblages and their roles in
these phenotypes remain unclear. We compared the microbial communities
of thermal bleaching–resistant (TBR) and thermal bleaching–sensitive
(TBS) corals using metabarcoding and metagenomics. Our multidomain
approach revealed stable distinct microbial compositions between thermal
phenotypes. Notably, TBR corals were inherently enriched with microbial
eukaryotes, particularly Symbiodiniaceae, linked to photosynthesis, and
the biosynthesis of antibiotic and antitumor compounds and
glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchor proteins, crucial for cell wall
regulation and metabolite exchange. In contrast, TBS corals were
dominated by bacterial metabolic genes related to nitrogen, amino acid,
and lipid metabolism. The inherent microbiome differences between TBR
and TBS corals, already observed before thermal stress, point to
distinct holobiont phenotypes associated to thermal bleaching
resistance, offering insights into mechanisms underlying coral response
to climate-induced stress.