Microbiota Differences of the Comb Jelly Mnemiopsis leidyi in Native and Invasive Sub-Populations

Abstract

The translocation of non-indigenous species around the world, especially in marine systems, is a matter of concern for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem functioning. While specific physical and ecological traits are often recognized to influence the success in the establishment of non-indigenous species, the impact of the associated microbiota for the fitness and performance of basal marine metazoans remains vastly unknown. However, for the elucidation of the microbial impact on host fitness, first the diversity of the associated microbiota has to be characterized. In this study, we compared bacterial composition patterns of the invasive ctenophore Mnemiopsis leidyi in different native and invasive sub-populations along with the genetic structure of the host (polymorphic microsatellite markers). Amplicon sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene (V1-V2 hypervariable regions) revealed that M. leidyi as representative of the phylum Ctenophora, the sister group to all metazoans, harbored a distinct microbiota compared to the ambient seawater, which significantly differed across two major tissues, namely epidermis and gastrodermis. Moreover, we identified significant differences in bacterial community compositions between native and invasive sub-populations of M. leidyi. This might indicate, that the microbiota can be influenced by the genotypic background of the host. To detangle such interactions, laboratory controlled experiments in a common garden set up are needed.

Cultivable microbiota associated with Aurelia aurita and Mnemiopsis leidyi

“…leidyi , such as Acinetobacter , Aeromonas , Colwellia , Exiguobacterium , Hydrogenophaga , Lacinutrix , Marinomonas , Ochrobactrum , Pantoea , Phaeocystidibacter , Pseudoclavibacter , Psychrobacter , Sagittula , and Thalassomonas , which also have been detected in a recent 16S rRNA gene amplification study of the M . leidyi ‐associated microbiota (Jaspers, Weiland‐Bräuer, et al, 2019). Several of those bacteria were previously described in association with M .…”

Cannibalism makes invasive comb jelly, Mnemiopsis leidyi, resilient to unfavourable conditions

“…Many of the environmental conditions that have made Eurasian locations physiologically favorable for M. leidyi invasion, warming temperatures and increased eutrophication, also exist in the species' native areas. Increasing disturbance of marine environments suggests that the negative impact of M. leidyi on ecosystem services may also become an increasing problem in the species' native habitats as it is highly likely that it can turn its cannibalistic boom-and-bust strategies on and off in changing environmental circumstances 18,32,33 .…”

The first embryo, the origin of cancer and animal phylogeny. IV. The neoplastic basis for the formation of the innate immune system

“…Animals do not live in isolation but rather in complex communities that interact with environmental conditions-a highly relevant perspective when it comes to evolutionary phenomena. In the context of this article, ctenophores, as a basal metazoan phylum (Ryan et al, 2013;Moroz et al, 2014;Arcila et al, 2017;Shen et al, 2017;Whelan et al, 2017), are considered meta-organisms (Daniels and Breitbart, 2012;Jaspers et al, 2019).…”