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Symbiotic state influences life-history strategy of a clonal cnidarian.

ABSTRACT: Along the North American Pacific coast, the common intertidal sea anemone Anthopleura elegantissima engages in facultative, flexible symbioses with Symbiodinium muscatinei (a dinoflagellate) and Elliptochloris marina (a chlorophyte). Determining how symbiotic state affects host fitness is essential to understanding the ecological significance of engaging in such flexible relationships with diverse symbionts. Fitness consequences of hosting S. muscatinei, E. marina or negligible numbers of either symbiont (aposymbiosis) were investigated by measuring growth, cloning by fission and gonad development after 8.5-11 months of sustained exposure to high, moderate or low irradiance under seasonal environmental conditions. Both symbiotic state and irradiance affected host fitness, leading to divergent life-history strategies. Moderate and high irradiances led to a greater level of gonad development in individuals hosting E. marina, while high irradiance and high summer temperature promoted cloning in individuals hosting S. muscatinei and reduced fitness of aposymbiotic anemones. Associating with S. muscatinei may contribute to the success of A. elegantissima as a spatial competitor on the high shore: (i) by offsetting the costs of living under high temperature and irradiance conditions, and (ii) by promoting a high fission rate and clonal expansion. Our results suggest that basic life-history characteristics of a clonal cnidarian can be affected by the identity of the endosymbionts it hosts.

SUBMITTER: Bingham BL

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4100504 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Symbiotic state influences life-history strategy of a clonal cnidarian.

Bingham Brian L BL Dimond James L JL Muller-Parker Gisèle G

Proceedings. Biological sciences 20140801 1789

Along the North American Pacific coast, the common intertidal sea anemone Anthopleura elegantissima engages in facultative, flexible symbioses with Symbiodinium muscatinei (a dinoflagellate) and Elliptochloris marina (a chlorophyte). Determining how symbiotic state affects host fitness is essential to understanding the ecological significance of engaging in such flexible relationships with diverse symbionts. Fitness consequences of hosting S. muscatinei, E. marina or negligible numbers of either ...[more]

PMID: 25009060

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Project description:Heterogeneity in immunity occurs across numerous disease systems with individuals from the same population having diverse disease outcomes. Proliferative kidney disease (PKD) caused by Tetracapsuloides bryosalmonae, is a persistent parasitic disease negatively impacting both wild and farmed salmonids. Little is known of how PKD is spread or maintained within wild susceptible populations. We investigated an aspect of fish disease that has been largely overlooked, that is, the role of the host phenotypic heterogeneity in disease outcome. We examined how host susceptibility to T. bryosalmonae infection, and the disease PKD, varied across different infection life-history stages and how it differs between naïve, re-infected and persistently infected hosts. We investigated the response to parasite exposure in host phenotypes with (a) different ages and (b) heterogeneous infection life histories. Among (a) the age phenotypes were young-of-the-year (YOY) fish and juvenile 1+ fish (fish older than one) and, for (b) juvenile 1+ infection survivors were either re-exposed or not re- exposed to the parasite and response phenotypes were assigned post-hoc dependant on infection status. In fish not re-exposed this included fish that cleared infection (CI) or had a persistent infection (PI). In fish re-exposed these included fish that were re-infected (RI), or re-exposed and uninfected (RCI). We assessed both parasite-centric (infection prevalence, parasite burden, malacospore transmission) and host-centric parameters (growth rates, disease severity, infection tolerance and the immune response). In (a), YOY fish, parasite success and disease severity were greater and differences in the immune response occurred, demonstrating an ontogenetic decline of susceptibility in older fish. In (b), in PI and RI fish, parasite success and disease severity were comparable. However, expression of several adaptive immunity markers was greater in RI fish, indicating concomitant immunity, as re-exposure did not intensify infection. We demonstrate the relevance of heterogeneity in infection life history on disease outcome and describe several distinctive features of immune ontogeny and protective immunity in this model not previously reported. The relevance of such themes on a population level requires greater research in many aquatic disease systems to generate clearer framework for understanding the spread and maintenance of aquatic pathogens.

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Symbiotic state influences life-history strategy of a clonal cnidarian.

Publications

Symbiotic state influences life-history strategy of a clonal cnidarian.

Similar Datasets

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