The distribution of Symbiodinium diversity within individual host foraminifera

Heterotrophic feeding as a newly identified survival strategy of the dinoflagellate Symbiodinium

“…Thus, evaluating the mixotrophic ability of each strain is warranted. In addition to corals, other marine life are known to contain Symbiodinium spp., including sponges, anemones, jellyfish, nudibranchs, clams, and protists such as ciliates and foraminifera (36,37). Our results may stimulate exploration of the heterotrophic feeding ability of Symbiodinium spp.…”

Molecular characterization of symbiotic algae (Symbiodinium spp.) in soritid foraminifera (Sorites orbiculus) and a scleractinian coral (Orbicella annularis) from St John, US Virgin Islands

“…Fine scale (e.g., within clade C) specificity has also been reported with a number of sub-clade types (e.g., C90-C93) associating exclusively with soritids (Pochon et al 2007). However, recent studies have revealed that some soritid genera also associate with sub-clade Symbiodinium types that are common in metazoans, including types C1, C3, C15 and/or C19 (Fay et al 2009;Momigliano and Uthicke 2013). Nevertheless, as a group soritid foraminifera associate with a wider diversity of Symbiodinium clades (C, D, F, G, H, and I) as compared to scleractinians, which are generally found with just four clades, A, B, C and D (Coffroth and Santos 2005).…”

“…These authors showed that M. vertebralis forms symbiotic associations with a high diversity of Symbiodinium types encompassing 27 unique ITS-2 genotypes from 4 major clades (C, D, F, and H), including dominant types C3 and C15, which are common in corals (LaJeunesse et al 2003;Cooper et al 2011;Putnam et al 2012;Hsu et al 2012) and on macroalgae (Venera-Ponton et al 2010). Fay et al (2009) also demonstrated that the soritid Amphisorus hemprichii from Papua New Guinea contains mixed populations of Symbiodinium, with the metazoan-generalist type C1 dominating in this species. These examples highlight that soritid forams can harbor host-generalist symbiont types, which could be exchanged between hosts.…”

“…The symbiosis in these hosts has received less attention than in scleractinian corals and is by comparison not as well understood. The associations between Symbiodinium and soritid foraminifera are interesting in this regard, as soritids are abundant on coral reefs (Langer and Hottinger 2000), they can contain a diversity of co-occurring Symbiodinium genotypes (Pochon et al 2007;Fay et al 2009), and may exchange Symbiodinium with scleractinians (Lee et al 1995;Momigliano and Uthicke 2013). Soritids may therefore serve as a reservoir of genetic variants of Symbiodinium and facilitate the Abstract The exchange of Symbiodinium symbionts among scleractinian and soritid hosts could facilitate acclimatization to changing conditions by establishing novel symbiotic unions better tuned to prevailing conditions.…”

Morphological characterization of Symbiodinium minutum and S. psygmophilum belonging to clade B

“…The genus Symbiodinium, commonly known as zooxanthellae, comprises symbiotic dinoflagellates, most of which are symbiotic with various species such as corals, sponges, sea anemones, jellyfish, nudibranchs, clams, ciliates, and foraminifera (LaJeunesse 2002, RodriguezLanetty et al 2003, Lewis and Coffroth 2004, Fay et al 2009, Pochon and Gates 2010, Hill et al 2011, Pochon et al 2012, although some exist as free-living forms (Gou et al 2003, Hansen and Daugbjerg 2009, Jeong et al 2012, 2014a, 2014b. They are crucial components of coral reef ecosystems (Iglesias-Prieto et al 1992, Stanley 2006, Stat et al 2006; however, despite their ecological importance in marine ecosystems, not izations such as plate tabulations and related diagnoses have not been provided (LaJeunesse et al 2012).…”