Physiological and morphological plasticity in Stylophora pistillata larvae from Eilat, Israel, to shallow and mesophotic light conditions

Bellworthy, Jessica; Pardo, Rosario; Scucchia, Federica; Zaslansky, Paul; Goodbody‐Gringley, Gretchen; Mass, Tali

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.106969

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 112 publications

(181 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In the natural environment, low carbon availability could result from low symbiont density, low photosynthetic efficiency in poor light conditions, or sudden increases in the ammonium concentration. In line with our model, these conditions have been shown to increase the symbiont population and hence re-balance the carbon-nitrogen equilibrium 14 , 29 , 30 . The simple model proposed here relies solely on a basic metabolic machinery that is generally present in cnidarians and, hence, does not require any species-specific evolution of novel mechanisms.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

A carbon-nitrogen negative feedback loop underlies the repeated evolution of cnidarian–Symbiodiniaceae symbioses

Cui,

Mi,

Moret

et al. 2023

Nat Commun

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Symbiotic associations with Symbiodiniaceae have evolved independently across a diverse range of cnidarian taxa including reef-building corals, sea anemones, and jellyfish, yet the molecular mechanisms underlying their regulation and repeated evolution are still elusive. Here, we show that despite their independent evolution, cnidarian hosts use the same carbon-nitrogen negative feedback loop to control symbiont proliferation. Symbiont-derived photosynthates are used to assimilate nitrogenous waste via glutamine synthetase–glutamate synthase-mediated amino acid biosynthesis in a carbon-dependent manner, which regulates the availability of nitrogen to the symbionts. Using nutrient supplementation experiments, we show that the provision of additional carbohydrates significantly reduces symbiont density while ammonium promotes symbiont proliferation. High-resolution metabolic analysis confirmed that all hosts co-incorporated glucose-derived 13C and ammonium-derived 15N via glutamine synthetase–glutamate synthase-mediated amino acid biosynthesis. Our results reveal a general carbon-nitrogen negative feedback loop underlying these symbioses and provide a parsimonious explanation for their repeated evolution.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%