麻豆淫院

Interactions between primary producers and bacteria impact the physiology of both partners, alter the chemistry of their environment, and shape ecosystem diversity.

Several studies have documented that dinoflagellates-bacteria interactions have the potential to dramatically influence population dynamics. However, species-level information about the bacterial consortia characteristically associated with dinoflagellates still remains obscure.

Recently, a research team led by Prof. Tang Yingzhong from the Institute of Oceanology of the Chinese Academy of Science (IOCAS) has provided new insights into the fundamental functions of bacteria consortia associated with the phycospheres of dinoflagellates and other harmful algal blooms (HABs)-forming microalgae.

The study was published in International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health on April 7.

The researchers characterized the bacterial assemblages associated with 144 clonal cultures of harmful algae that have been established and cultured in the laboratory, including 130 strains of dinoflagellates (covering all major taxa of dinoflagellates) and 14 strains from other classes.

The long-lasting bacterial associations to laboratory-raised algal cultures hinted bilaterally (i.e., mutualism) or at least unilaterally (i.e., commensalism) beneficial to the two partners.

Bacterial communities of dinoflagellates displayed strong conservation across strains with an enrichment of Methylophaga from the class 纬-proteobacteria and implied a potentially functional group of methylotrophs.

"While bacterial associations with thecate and athecate dinoflagellates displayed compositional and functional similarities, athecate dinoflagellates showed a more preferred niche for aerobic cellulolytic members in Actinobacteria phyla. This implies a plausibly proneness to utilize cellulose as energy source," said Dr. Deng Yunyan, first author of the study.

"Our results provide insightful understanding of the species composition and community functional profiles of dinoflagellate-associated bacterial assemblages," said Prof. Tang.