Cultivation of Bdelloid Rotifer <i>Adineta vaga</i> with Synthetic Medium and Characterization of Associated Bacteria.

ABSTRACT: Bdelloid rotifers are model organisms for evolutionary genetics; however, their laboratory cultivation has been limited to traditional systems that require natural food sources (e.g., lettuce juice, bacteria, or yeast) of undefined composition. This constraint impedes mechanistic studies of rotifer-microbe interactions and genetic evolution. We developed a synthetic rotifer medium (SRM) that enables axenic cultivation of Adineta vaga, the most commonly used model species of bdelloid rotifers in the laboratory, as a chemically controlled alternative. A. vaga reached a population density of 357 ± 19.95 ind./mL with a specific growth rate of 0.2131 ± 0.003 over 20 days in SRM, achieving parity with traditional food-supplemented systems while eliminating compositional variability

SUBMITTER: Wang W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12650600 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature