Host-microbe interactions as a driver of acclimation to salinity gradients in brown algal cultures.

ABSTRACT: Like most eukaryotes, brown algae live in association with bacterial communities that frequently have beneficial effects on their development. Ectocarpus is a genus of small filamentous brown algae, which comprises a strain that has recently colonized freshwater, a rare transition in this lineage. We generated an inventory of bacteria in Ectocarpus cultures and examined the effect they have on acclimation to an environmental change, that is, the transition from seawater to freshwater medium. Our results demonstrate that Ectocarpus depends on bacteria for this transition: cultures that have been deprived of their associated microbiome do not survive a transfer to freshwater, but restoring their microflora also restores the capacity to acclimate to this change. Furthermore, the transition be

SUBMITTER: Dittami SM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4681850 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature