Presence of Symbiodinium spp. in macroalgal microhabitats from the southern Great Barrier Reef

Venera‐Pontón, Dagoberto E.; Díaz-Pulido, Guillermo; Rodríguez-Lanetty, Mauricio; Høegh-Guldberg, Ove

doi:10.1007/s00338-010-0666-6

Cited by 30 publications

(30 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…However, sampling in Kāne'ohe Bay has not detected the presence of C15 cells in the water column in a reef that exhibits approximately 90% P. compressa cover over the last five decades. To our knowledge, the study of Venera-Ponton et al (2010) is the only consistent study that found C15 outside of a host, associated with the macroalgae Hypnea panose at Heron Island, GBR.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Cultivating endosymbionts — Host environmental mimics support the survival of Symbiodinium C15 ex hospite

Krueger

Gates

2012

Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology

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This article appeared in a journal published by Elsevier. The attached copy is furnished to the author for internal non-commercial research and education use, including for instruction at the authors institution and sharing with colleagues.Other uses, including reproduction and distribution, or selling or licensing copies, or posting to personal, institutional or third party websites are prohibited. Sustaining in vitro cultures of endosymbiotic dinoflagellates in the genus Symbiodinium is important, addressing questions relating to Symbiodinium function and Symbiodinium dependent host fitness. Difficulties in establishing representative Symbiodinium cultures from Pacific coral isolates limit the availability of diverse Symbiodinium types, especially in the C clade. While this clade exhibits high subcladal diversity (over 100 types), and represents the ecologically dominating phylotype in Indo-Pacific corals, only two ancestral types C1 and C3 are currently in permanent culture. This study attempted to cultivate Symbiodinium C15, a derived C clade type, from the Hawaiian coral Porites compressa. We tested a number of basic media in combination with defined organic supplements, as well as host factor derived additives and ion-manipulated media, in order to mimic the intracellular ion regime of a zooxanthellate host. While basic media did not support cell survival at all, the use of organic supplements such as amino acids plus taurine or host derived tissue homogenate had a positive effect on survival and stabilized in vitro densities temporarily. However, none of the conditions tested supported a proliferating motile Symbiodinium C15 culture. In two independent experiments, a potentially free-living Symbiodinium A clade strain was successfully cultured, which exhibited phylogenetic separation from endosymbiotic A clade strains. This study demonstrates the effectiveness of host mimics or host derived supplements to study otherwise 'unculturable' Symbiodinium strains. Our results imply that Symbiodinium C15 is incapable of surviving ex hospite unless a host-derived or potential host mimicking feature is present. This potential host dependency has important implications for post-bleaching recovery of the endemic coral P. compressa and suggests a coevolutionary link between vertical transmission mode, host dependency of the symbiont and bleaching resistance of this holobiont.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Cultivating endosymbionts — Host environmental mimics support the survival of Symbiodinium C15 ex hospite

Krueger

Gates

2012

Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology

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“…First, nutrient enrichments in Symbiodinium cultures show no direct effects of nitrogen toxicity, common to other marine phytoplankters, and confirming that Symbiodinium thrive under higher nutrient levels [46]. Secondly, free-living (although not per se symbiotic) Symbiodinium have been found in sand or on macro-algae [44,47], both of which are a likely source of dissolved organic and inorganic compounds. Surprisingly, the presence of Symbiodinium on or near CCA surfaces has never been examined.…”

Section: (B) Habitat Selectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Symbiodinium identity alters the temperature-dependent settlement behaviour of Acropora millepora coral larvae before the onset of symbiosis

2015

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The global distribution of marine species, many of which disperse during the larval stages, is influenced by ocean temperature regimes. Here, we test how temperature and the coral symbionts (Symbiodinium) affect survival, symbiont uptake, settlement success and habitat choice of Acropora millepora larvae. Experiments were conducted at Heron Island (Australia), where larvae were exposed to 22.5, 24.5, 26.5 and 28.58C. Within each temperature treatment, larvae were offered symbionts with distinct characteristics: (i) homologous Symbiodinium type C3, (ii) regionally homologous thermo-tolerant type D1, and (iii) heterologous thermo-tolerant type C15, as well as controls of (iv) un-filtered and (v) filtered seawater. Results show that lower instead of higher temperatures adversely affected recruitment by reducing larval survival and settlement. Low temperatures also reduced recruit habitat choice and initial symbiont densities, both of which impact on post-settlement survival. At lower temperatures, larvae increasingly settle away from preferred vertical surfaces and not on crustose coralline algae (CCA). Surprisingly, substrate preference to CCA was modified by the presence of specific symbiont genotypes that were present ex-hospite (outside the coral larvae). When different symbionts were mixed, the outcomes were non-additive, indicating that symbiont interactions modify the response. We propose that the observed influence of ex-hospite symbionts on settlement behaviour may have evolved through ecological facilitation and the study highlights the importance of biological processes during coral settlement.

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“…However, our understanding of Symbiodinium that occur outside a host (referred to as "free-living") is relatively poor in comparison with those that occur in symbioses . Recently, a number of researchers have investigated the diversity of free-living Symbiodinium in the seawater column, benthic sands, macroalgae, and fish feces in the coral reef environment using culture and genetic techniques (Carlos et al, 1999;Gou et al, 2003;Coffroth et al, 2006;Hirose et al, 2008;Littman et al, 2008;Manning and Gates, 2008;Porto et al, 2008;Venera-Ponton et al, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic diversity of potentially free-living Symbiodinium in the Xisha Islands, South China Sea: Implications for the resilience of coral reefs

Zhou

Huang

Zhou

et al. 2012

Aquatic Ecosystem Health &Amp; Management

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Free-living Symbiodinium have been the focus of considerable attention among coral reef researchers because they represent a source of symbionts for both recently recruited corals and adult corals that are subject to environmental stress (e.g. climate change). We evaluated the genetic diversity of free-living Symbiodinium in seawater collected from the Xisha Islands in the South China Sea using sequence analysis of the hypervariable region of the chloroplast 23S. We sequenced a total of 267 cloned gene fragments representing Symbiodinium in clades A, B, C, D, F, and G, of which 34 were distinct types. The diversity of free-living Symbiodinium types was high at all sites. The majority of Symbiodinium sequences belonged to clade C. There was no significant difference in Symbiodinium sequence types among sites or depths. Our results highlight the high diversity of free-living Symbiodinium pools in the coral reef environment and provide a foundation for future studies of the spatiotemporal distribution of Symbiodinium. Such information is critical to understand and predict the influence of symbiotic dinoflagellates on the adaptation of their host to environmental changes.

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Presence of Symbiodinium spp. in macroalgal microhabitats from the southern Great Barrier Reef

Cited by 30 publications

References 52 publications

Cultivating endosymbionts — Host environmental mimics support the survival of Symbiodinium C15 ex hospite

Cultivating endosymbionts — Host environmental mimics support the survival of Symbiodinium C15 ex hospite

Symbiodinium identity alters the temperature-dependent settlement behaviour of Acropora millepora coral larvae before the onset of symbiosis

Genetic diversity of potentially free-living Symbiodinium in the Xisha Islands, South China Sea: Implications for the resilience of coral reefs

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