Morphological characteristics and abundance of prokaryotes associated with gills in mangrove brachyuran crabs living along a tidal gradient.

ABSTRACT: Due to the chemico-physical differences between air and water, the transition from aquatic life to the land poses several challenges for animal evolution, necessitating morphological, physiological and behavioural adaptations. Microbial symbiosis is known to have played an important role in eukaryote evolution, favouring host adaptation under changing environmental conditions. We selected mangrove brachyuran crabs as a model group to investigate the prokaryotes associated with the gill of crabs dwelling at different tidal levels (subtidal, intertidal and supratidal). In these animals, the gill undergoes a high selective pressure, finely regulating multiple physiological functions during both animal submersion under and emersion from the periodical tidal events. We hypothesize that similarl

SUBMITTER: Garuglieri E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9009686 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature