Single-cell measurement of ammonium and bicarbonate uptake within a photosymbiotic bioeroding sponge.

ABSTRACT: Some of the most aggressive coral-excavating sponges host intracellular dinoflagellates from the genus Symbiodinium, which are hypothesized to provide the sponges with autotrophic energy that powers bioerosion. Investigations of the contribution of Symbiodinium to host metabolism and particularly inorganic nutrient recycling are complicated, however, by the presence of alternative prokaryotic candidates for this role. Here, novel methods are used to study nutrient assimilation and transfer within and between the outer-layer cells of the Indopacific bioeroding sponge Cliona orientalis. Combining stable isotope labelling, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry (NanoSIMS), we visualize and measure metabolic activity at the individual cell level, t

SUBMITTER: Achlatis M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5932049 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature