Intra-host Symbiont Diversity and Extended Symbiont Maintenance in Photosymbiotic Acantharea (Clade F).

ABSTRACT: Photosymbiotic protists contribute to surface primary production in low-nutrient, open-ocean ecosystems and constitute model systems for studying plastid acquisition via endosymbiosis. Little is known, however, about host-symbiont dynamics in these important relationships, and whether these symbioses are mutualistic is debated. In this study, we applied single-cell sequencing methods and advanced fluorescent microscopy to investigate host-symbiont dynamics in clade F acantharians, a major group of photosymbiotic protists in oligotrophic subtropical gyres. We amplified the 18S rRNA gene from single acantharian hosts and environmental samples to assess intra-host symbiont diversity and to determine whether intra-host symbiont community composition directly reflects the available symbiont com

SUBMITTER: Mars Brisbin M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6120437 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature