cyanobacterial diversity and a new acaryochloris-like symbiont from bahamian sea-squirts蓝藻多样性和一个新的acaryochloris-like共生有机体从巴哈马的海鞘.pdfVIP

Cyanobacterial Diversity and a New Acaryochloris-Like Symbiont from Bahamian Sea-Squirts ´ 1 2 3 2 4 Susanna Lopez-Legentil *, Bongkeun Song , Manel Bosch , Joseph R. Pawlik , Xavier Turon 1 Department of Animal Biology (Invertebrates), University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain, 2 Center for Marine Science, University of North Carolina Wilmington, Wilmington, North Carolina, United States of America, 3 Scientific and Technical Services (Confocal Microscopy), University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain, 4 Center for Advanced Studies of Blanes, Spanish National Research Council, Blanes, Girona, Spain Abstract Symbiotic interactions between ascidians (sea-squirts) and microbes are poorly understood. Here we characterized the cyanobacteria in the tissues of 8 distinct didemnid taxa from shallow-water marine habitats in the Bahamas Islands by sequencing a fragment of the cyanobacterial 16S rRNA gene and the entire 16S–23S rRNA internal transcribed spacer region (ITS) and by examining symbiont morphology with transmission electron (TEM) and confocal microscopy (CM). As described previously for other species, Trididemnum spp. mostly contained symbionts associated with the Prochloron-Synechocystis group. However, sequence analysis of the symbionts in Lissoclinum revealed two unique clades. The first contained a novel cyanobacterial clade, while the second clade was closely associated with Acaryochloris marina . CM revealed the presence of chlorophyll d (chl d) and phycobiliproteins (PBPs) within these symbiont cells, as is characteristic of Acaryochloris species. The presence of symbionts was also observed by TEM inside the tunic of both the adult and larvae of L. fragile, indicating vertical transmiss