New paper entitled “Symbiont-mediated metabolic shift in the sea anemone Anthopleura elegantissima” is out in Molecular Ecology! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... - ThreadSky

tylerjcarrier.bsky.social • 49 days ago

New paper entitled “Symbiont-mediated metabolic shift in the sea anemone Anthopleura elegantissima” is out in Molecular Ecology!

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/mec.17722

Comments

tylerjcarrier.bsky.social•49 days ago

The goal of this study was to generate a modern molecular, metabolic, and microbial understanding of the partnership between A. elegantissima and the dinoflagellate Breviolum muscatinei (formerly Symbiodinium), the chlorophyte Elliptochloris marina, and aposymbiotic individuals.

tylerjcarrier.bsky.social•49 days ago

First, we generated a reference genome for A. elegantissima, of which we were able to annotate ~72.2% of all predicted proteins.

tylerjcarrier.bsky.social•49 days ago

Second, we used this genome to determine that A. elegantissima exhibits a symbiont-mediated shift in the host transcriptome. The largest proportion of differentially expressed genes was between sea anemones that were or were not associated with a photosymbiont.

tylerjcarrier.bsky.social•49 days ago

We then determined that A. elegantissima has a symbiont-specific holobiont metabolome. The metabolic profiles differed significantly between each symbiotic phenotype, with individuals harboring either symbiont being more similar to each other than to aposymbiotic sea anemones.

tylerjcarrier.bsky.social•49 days ago

Lastly, we assayed the bacterial community and observed that it was similar in membership and composition across each of the three symbiotic phenotypes. Moreover, this community was dominated by a single Sphingomonas taxa, which is commonly observed across cnidarians.

tylerjcarrier.bsky.social•49 days ago

We hope that these resources help to enable A. elegantissima to serve as another tractable experimental cnidarian system that aid in larger conservation efforts.

Comments

Posting Rules

Reply