Publications related to Fine-Scale Skeletal Banding Can Distinguish Symbiotic from Asymbiotic Species among Modern and Fossil Scleractinian Corals

Gene expression of Pocillopora damicornis coral larvae in response to acidification and ocean warming

Objectives The endosymbiosis with Symbiodiniaceae is key to the ecological success of reef-building corals. However, climate change is threatening to destabilize this symbiosis on a global scale. Most studies looking into the response of corals to heat str ...

BMC2024

Photobiology and metabolic interactions in the symbiotic jellyfish Cassiopea

Niclas Heidelberg Lyndby

The symbiont-bearing jellyfish Cassiopea live a benthic lifestyle, positioning themselves upside-down on sediments in shallow waters to allow their endosymbiotic algae to photosynthesize in the sunlight. Over the last decades Cassiopea has become increasin ...

EPFL2023

Metabolism of the symbiotic jellyfish Cassiopea in a changing environment

Gaëlle Delphine Toullec

Ocean warming and other anthropogenic impacts have led to a global decline in many photosymbiotic cnidarians, most notably reef-building corals. But some species of the symbiotic and (sub-)tropical upside-down jellyfish Cassiopea are increasingly reported ...

EPFL2023

Symbiotic nutrient exchange enhances the long-term survival of cassiosomes, the autonomous stinging-cell structures of Cassiopea

Cristina Martin Olmos, Anders Meibom, Niclas Heidelberg Lyndby, Gaëlle Delphine Toullec, Nils Rädecker, Claudia Isabella Pogoreutz, Guilhem Maurice Louis Banc-Prandi

Medusae of the widely distributed upside-down jellyfish Cassiopea release autonomous, mobile stinging structures. These so-called cassiosomes play a role in predator defense and prey capture, and are major contributors to “contactless” stinging incidents i ...

2023

Symbiotic nutrient cycling enables the long-term survival of Aiptasia in the absence of heterotrophic food sources

Anders Meibom, Nils Rädecker

Phototrophic Cnidaria are mixotrophic organisms that can complement their het- erotrophic diet with nutrients assimilated by their algal endosymbionts. Metabolic mod- els suggest that the translocation of photosynthates and their derivatives from the algae ...

2023

Coupled carbon and nitrogen cycling regulates the cnidarian–algal symbiosis

Anders Meibom, Stéphane Laurent Escrig, Nils Rädecker

Efficient nutrient recycling underpins the ecological success of cnidarian-algal symbioses in oligotrophic waters. In these symbioses, nitrogen limitation restricts the growth of algal endosymbionts in hospite and stimulates their release of photosynthates ...

Nature Research2023

Excess labile carbon promotes diazotroph abundance in heat-stressed octocorals

Claudia Isabella Pogoreutz

Nitrogen limitation is the foundation of stable coral-algal symbioses. Diazotrophs, prokaryotes capable of fixing N-2 into ammonia, support the productivity of corals in oligotrophic waters, but could contribute to the destabilization of holobiont function ...

ROYAL SOC2023

Non-invasive investigation of the morphology and optical properties of the upside-down jellyfish Cassiopea with optical coherence tomography

Anders Meibom, Sandrine Denise Françoise Bessette, Niclas Heidelberg Lyndby, Michael Kühl

The jellyfish Cassiopea largely cover their carbon demand via photosynthates produced by microalgal endosymbionts, but how holobiont morphology and tissue optical properties affect the light microclimate and symbiont photosynthesis in Cassiopea remain unex ...

ROYAL SOC2023

The Reef Environment Centralized InFormation System (RECIFS) : An integrated geo‐environmental database for coral reef research and conservation

Stéphane Joost, Oliver Michele Selmoni

Motivation: Host to intricate networks of marine species, coral reefs are among the most biologically diverse ecosystems on Earth. Over the past few decades, major degradations of coral reefs have been observed worldwide, which is largely attributed to the ...

2023

The mesoglea buffers the physico-chemical microenvironment of photosymbionts in the upside-down jellyfish Cassiopea sp

Anders Meibom, Niclas Heidelberg Lyndby, Michael Kühl

IntroductionThe jellyfish Cassiopea has a conspicuous lifestyle, positioning itself upside-down on sediments in shallow waters thereby exposing its photosynthetic endosymbionts (Symbiodiniaceae) to light. Several studies have shown how the photosymbionts b ...

FRONTIERS MEDIA SA2023

A roadmap to understanding diversity and function of coral reef-associated fungi

Claudia Isabella Pogoreutz

Tropical coral reefs are hotspots of marine productivity, owing to the association of reef-building corals with endosymbiotic algae and metabolically diverse bacterial communities. However, the functional importance of fungi, well-known for their contribut ...

OXFORD UNIV PRESS2022

Presence of algal symbionts affects denitrifying bacterial communities in the sea anemone Aiptasia coral model

Anders Meibom, Nils Rädecker, Claudia Isabella Pogoreutz

The coral-algal symbiosis is maintained by a constant and limited nitrogen availability in the holobiont. Denitrifiers, i.e., prokaryotes reducing nitrate/nitrite to dinitrogen, could contribute to maintaining the nitrogen limitation in the coral holobiont ...

2022

Contrasting Microbiome Dynamics of Putative Denitrifying Bacteria in Two Octocoral Species Exposed to Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC) and Warming

Nils Rädecker, Claudia Isabella Pogoreutz

Mutualistic nutrient cycling in the coral-algae symbiosis depends on limited nitrogen (N) availability for algal symbionts. Denitrifying prokaryotes capable of reducing nitrate or nitrite to dinitrogen could thus support coral holobiont functioning by limi ...

2022

Green fluorescent protein-like pigments optimise the internal light environment in symbiotic reef-building corals

Niclas Heidelberg Lyndby

Pigments homologous to the green fluorescent protein (GFP) have been proposed to fine-tune the internal light microclimate of corals, facilitating photoacclimation of photosynthetic coral symbionts (Symbiodiniaceae) to life in different reef habitats and e ...

2022

Positive interactions between corals and damselfish increase coral resistance to temperature stress

Leïla Ezzat

By the century's end, many tropical seas will reach temperatures exceeding most coral species' thermal tolerance on an annual basis. The persistence of corals in these regions will, therefore, depend on their abilities to tolerate recurrent thermal stress. ...

WILEY2022

Coral holobiont cues prime Endozoicomonas for a symbiotic lifestyle

Nils Rädecker, Claudia Isabella Pogoreutz, Gabriela Hannah Holligan Perna

Endozoicomonas are prevalent, abundant bacterial associates of marine animals, including corals. Their role in holobiont health and functioning, however, remains poorly understood. To identify potential interactions within the coral holobiont, we character ...

SPRINGERNATURE2022

Worldwide analysis of reef surveys sorts coral taxa by associations with recent and past heat stress

Stéphane Joost, Oliver Michele Selmoni, Véronique Berteaux-Lecellier

Coral reefs around the world are under threat from anomalous heat waves that are causing the widespread decline of hard corals. Different coral taxa are known to have different sensitivities to heat, although variation in susceptibilities have also been ob ...

FRONTIERS MEDIA SA2022

High light quantity suppresses locomotion in symbiotic Aiptasia

Anders Meibom, Nils Rädecker, Claudia Isabella Pogoreutz

Many cnidarians engage in endosymbioses with microalgae of the family Symbiodiniaceae. In this association, the fitness of the cnidarian host is closely linked to the photosynthetic performance of its microalgal symbionts. Phototaxis may enable semi-sessil ...

2022

Intrinsically High Capacity of Animal Cells From a Symbiotic Cnidarian to Deal With Pro-Oxidative Conditions

Gaëlle Delphine Toullec

The cnidarian-dinoflagellate symbiosis is a mutualistic intracellular association based on the photosynthetic activity of the endosymbiont. This relationship involves significant constraints and requires co-evolution processes, such as an extensive capacit ...

FRONTIERS MEDIA SA2022

Glacier shrinkage will accelerate downstream decomposition of organic matter and alters microbiome structure and function

Nicola Deluigi, Leïla Ezzat, Vincent Henri De Staercke, Tom Ian Battin, Paraskevi Pramateftaki, Hannes Markus Peter, Jade Brandani, Matteo Tolosano, Michail Styllas, Tyler Joe Kohler, Stylianos Fodelianakis, Massimo Bourquin, Martina Andrea Schön, Susheel Bhanu Busi, Grégoire Marie Octave Edouard Michoud

The shrinking of glaciers is among the most iconic consequences of climate change. Despite this, the downstream consequences for ecosystem processes and related microbiome structure and function remain poorly understood. Here, using a space-for-time substi ...

Wiley2022