Thermal stress response in a dinoflagellate-bearing nudibranch and the octocoral on which it feeds |
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Authors: | Maren Ziegler Shannon K. FitzPatrick Ingo Burghardt Katie L. Liberatore A. Joshua Leffler Cristina Takacs-Vesbach Ursula Shepherd |
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Affiliation: | 1. Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325, Frankfurt am Main, Germany 2. Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, 167 Castetter Hall, MSC03-2020 1 University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131, USA 3. University Honors Program, University of New Mexico, Student Health Center Building, MSCO6-3890 1 University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 87131, USA 4. Australian Museum, 6 College Street, Sydney, NSW, 2010, Australia 5. Department of Wildland Resources, Utah State University, 5230 Old Main Hill, Logan, UT, 84322, USA 6. Environmental and Natural Resources Institute, University of Alaska-Anchorage, Anchorage, AK, 99508, USA
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Abstract: | In this study, we examined two non-scleractinian taxa, the rare nudibranch Phyllodesmium lizardensis and Bayerxenia sp., the octocoral on which the nudibranch lives and feeds, to investigate the effect of experimental heat stress on their symbioses with Symbiodinium. Bleaching has not been studied in nudibranchs. Bayerxenia sp. belongs to the alcyonacea family Xeniidae, members of which are known to be heat sensitive, but the genus has never been subject to heat stress experiments or bleaching observations. While qPCR did not reveal any changes to the symbiont community composition, the two host species responded differently to increased temperature. There were changes in the relative proportion of tissue types in Bayerxenia sp., but these were not attributable to the temperature treatment. Bayerxenia sp. exhibited no changes in cellular structure (apoptosis or cell necrosis), or symbiont functioning, cell size, density, or cladal community structure. On the other hand, the host, P. lizardensis, experienced tissue loss and symbiont densities decreased significantly with the majority of the remaining symbiont cells significantly degenerated after the heat stress. This decrease did not influence symbiont community composition, symbiont cell size, or photosynthetic efficiency. While the bleaching process in nudibranchs was demonstrated for the first time, the physiological and molecular pathways leading to this response still require attention. |
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