Strain-level diversity of symbiont communities between individuals and populations of a bioluminescent fish
The bioluminescent symbiosis involving the urchin cardinalfish, Siphamia tubifer , and Photobacterium mandapamensis , a luminous member of the Vibrionaceae, is highly specific compared to other bioluminescent fish-bacteria associations. Despite this high degree of specificity, patterns of genetic di...
Saved in:
| Published in: | The ISME Journal Vol. 17; no. 12; pp. 2362 - 2369 |
|---|---|
| Main Authors: | , , , |
| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
London
Nature Publishing Group UK
01-12-2023
Nature Publishing Group |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Get full text |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| Summary: | The bioluminescent symbiosis involving the urchin cardinalfish,
Siphamia tubifer
, and
Photobacterium mandapamensis
, a luminous member of the Vibrionaceae, is highly specific compared to other bioluminescent fish-bacteria associations. Despite this high degree of specificity, patterns of genetic diversity have been observed for the symbionts from hosts sampled over relatively small spatial scales. We characterized and compared sub-species, strain-level symbiont diversity within and between
S. tubifer
hosts sampled from the Philippines and Japan using PCR fingerprinting. We then carried out whole genome sequencing of the unique symbiont genotypes identified to characterize the genetic diversity of the symbiont community and the symbiont pangenome. We determined that an individual light organ contains six symbiont genotypes on average, but varied between 1–13. Additionally, we found that there were few genotypes shared between hosts from the same location. A phylogenetic analysis of the unique symbiont strains indicated location-specific clades, suggesting some genetic differentiation in the symbionts between host populations. We also identified symbiont genes that were variable between strains, including
luxF
, a member of the
lux
operon, which is responsible for light production. We quantified the light emission and growth rate of two strains missing
luxF
along with the other strains isolated from the same light organs and determined that strains lacking
luxF
were dimmer but grew faster than most of the other strains, suggesting a potential metabolic trade-off. This study highlights the importance of strain-level diversity in microbial associations and provides new insight into the underlying genetic architecture of intraspecific symbiont communities within a host. |
|---|---|
| Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
| ISSN: | 1751-7362 1751-7370 |
| DOI: | 10.1038/s41396-023-01550-6 |