bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.05.11.443447; this version posted May 11, 2021. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. 1 ORIGINAL ARTICLE 2 Marine biofilms on different fouling control coating types 3 reveal differences in microbial community composition and 4 abundance 5 6 Maria Papadatou 1 | Samuel C. Robson 2,3 | Sergey Dobretsov 4,5 | Joy E.M. Watts 1,3 | Jennifer Longyear 6 | 7 Maria Salta 1 8 9 1 School of Biological Sciences, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, UK 10 2 School of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, UK 11 3 Centre for Enzyme Innovation, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, UK 12 4 Department of Marine Science and Fisheries, College of Agricultural and Marine Sciences, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman 13 5 Centre of Excellence in Marine Biotechnology, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman 14 6 AkzoNobel/ International Paint Ltd, Felling, Gateshead, UK 15 16 Correspondence: Maria Salta, School of Biological Sciences, University of Portsmouth, Portsmouth, UK. Email:
[email protected] 17 Funding Information: University of Portsmouth: 35030/SC00049BIOL 18 19 Abstract 20 Marine biofouling imposes serious environmental and economic impacts on marine applications, especially in 21 the shipping industry. To combat biofouling, protective coatings are applied on vessel hulls which are divided 22 into two major groups: biocidal and non-toxic fouling-release. The aim of the current study was to explore the 23 effect of coating type on microbial biofilm community profiles to better understand the differences between 24 the communities developed on fouling control biocidal antifouling and biocidal-free coatings.