NanoSIMS isotopic imaging - Deciphering the nature of coral-symbiont metabolic interactions

The ability of endosymbiotic Symbiodinium to fix inorganic nutrients and their translocation to the coral host is considered a key element for the growth of coral reefs in tropical coastal waters and has been a fundamental research topic for over 50 years. With pulse-chase experiments using stable isotopes and combined TEM and NanoSIMS ultrastructural and isotopic analyses it is now possible to visualize and quantify the fixation, translocation, and turnover of essential elements such as carbon and nitrogen with unprecedented subcellular resolution. With these techniques we have monitored the assimilation of 15N nitrate, 15N ammonium, and 13C bicarbonate in the coral Pocillopora damicornis. These studies have revealed dynamic intra-symbiont storage of assimilated nitrate and ammonium in the form of uric acid crystals, and the formation of lipid droplets and starch granules in the symbiont and their subsequent remobilization. Carbon translocation toward the coral gastrodermal lipid droplets was detected within 15 min. Moreover, glycogen granules in the coral tissue were found to be an important sink for translocated carbon. This work has now been extended to the related pocilloporid species, Stylophora pistillata, with the important addition of heterotrophy (feeding the coral with dual-labelled brine shrimps) to contrast the fate and timeframes of heterotrophic vs. autotrophic (15N nitrate/13C bicarbonate) nutrient uptake under natural conditions and environmental stress due to elevated water temperatures. The in situ spatial data provided by NanoSIMS allow us for the first time to address questions that cannot be answered by traditional bulk measurements, such as 1) the influence of local symbiont densities on individual Symbiodinium assimilation rates, 2) metabolic capabilities of different symbiont ITS2 types in hospite, and (3) the effect of changes in intracellular host and symbiosome pH on individual symbiont productivity.

Coral photosymbiosis: Linking phylogenetic identity to single cell metabolic activity in mixed symbiont populations

Isabelle Domart-Coulon, Maoz Fine, Béatrice Gaume, Anders Meibom

Tropical reef-building corals live in symbiosis with a wide range of micro-organisms, including unicellular Symbiodinium dinoflagellates also called zooxanthellae. These photosynthetic endosymbionts live inside the coral gastroderm cells. Although corals can feed on planktonic preys, the dinoflagellates significantly contribute to the nutrition of their host by transferring a large fraction (up to 90%) of photosynthates that are produced through the fixation of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) and nitrogen (nitrate or ammonium). Nine major clades (A-I) of Symbiodinium have been identified by molecular genetic analyses. Each clade presents distinct physiological features and the specific association between coral species and Symbiodinium clade determines the phenotype of the holobiont. Differences in the photosynthetic response to irradiance, rates of carbon fixation, and thermal tolerance can be attributed to symbiont clade. Several Symbiodinium clades can simultaneously exist within a single coral and the host can dynamically modify the proportion between dominant and background clades to adapt to changing environmental conditions. Investigating at the cellular level the metabolic exchanges between coral and Symbiodinium is of great interest to understand e.g. the bleaching process (loss of zooxanthellae) which often leads to coral death. We are aiming at quantitatively image the differential metabolic activity between symbiont clades in the same host, in the intact symbiosis. Previous studies have used mass bulk techniques to investigate the metabolism of symbionts at the colony scale. However, such studies cannot determine the specific contribution of the individual cells, as a function of their distribution in the coral host tissue. We have developed a SIMS-ISH method combining nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry (NanoSIMS) and in situ hybridization (ISH) for the simultaneous in situ identification of Symbiodinium genotype, and visualization of symbiont-host metabolic exchange at the level of individual cell. We focus on two reef-building coral species Pocillopora damicornis and Stylophora pistillata for which a large amount of complementary metabolic data exists. We designed specific fluorescent DNA probes to identify clade C Symbiodinium in P. damicornis and clade A in S. pistillata, and in mixed cultures. We combined the probes with pulse-chase experiments using isotopically labeled seawater (13C-bicarbonate and 15N-nitrate) to attribute a particular metabolism to a specific clade. This combined method enables us to phylogenetically identify metabolically active cells from a NanoSIMS isotopic/elemental image. The precise correlation between TEM and the NanoSIMS isotopic maps allows us to follow the turnover and translocation of metabolites with sub-cellular precision in both the symbionts and the host. Due to the complex nature of the coral symbiosis, the ability to discriminate the phylogenetic identity and metabolic role of specific Symbiodinium populations in situ is crucial to understand the effects of environmental stress on the coral holobiont plasticity. Moreover, analyzing symbiotic associations in situ provides a unique insight into the spatio-temporal patterns of metabolic interactions in holobionts. This analytical breakthrough promises to open entirely new areas of research focused on understanding the dynamics of interactions between animals and the microbial world.

2017

Autotrophic and heterotrophic nutrient fluxes in the dinoflagellate-coral symbiosis – A NanoSIMS perspective

Julia Marie Jeanne Yvonne Bodin, Isabelle Domart-Coulon, Maoz Fine, Thomas Krüger, Anders Meibom

The exchange of metabolites between photosynthetic symbionts and their coral host in shallow-water scleractinians provides the nutritional basis for their successful evolution and the existence of massive coral reefs in oligotrophic tropical waters. Autotrophic nutrition, based on carbon- and nitrogen-rich photosynthetic metabolites, is complemented by heterotrophic uptake and assimilation of organic matter to obtain additional carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus. By combining TEM ultrastructural observations with quantitative NanoSIMS isotopic imaging of tissue sections at sub-cellular resolution, we have compared the exchange of nutrients from the autotrophic assimilation of 15N-nitrate and 13C-bicarbonate with the heterotrophic uptake from 15N- and 13C-labelled brine shrimps in Stylophora pistillata from the Red Sea. Our results confirm that heterotrophy serves as the dominant source of nitrogen for the coral holobiont. On a time scale of 6 hours, heterotrophy provided approximately nine times more nitrogen to the host gastrodermal anabolism than symbiont nitrate fixation and translocation. Heterotrophic nitrogen was also used in anabolic processes in the symbionts, but at a level about 40% lower compared with nitrogen incorporation from nitrate fixation. The role of photosynthesizing symbionts the major contributors of carbon to the coral host was evident from the observation that autotrophic carbon enrichment in the gastrodermal layer was seven times higher in comparison to the heterotrophic carbon acquisition. Our observations directly demonstrate the complementing roles of heterotrophic and autotrophic food acquisition and support the notion that recycling of nutrients in symbiotic coral holobionts is critical to their vitality. The effects of stress from environmental change, including increasing water temperature and ocean acidification, are under investigation.

2015

Temperature and feeding induce tissue level changes in autotrophic and heterotrophic nutrient allocation in the coral symbiosis – A NanoSIMS study

Julia Marie Jeanne Yvonne Bodin, Stéphane Laurent Escrig, Maoz Fine, Thomas Krüger, Céline Edith Loussert-Fonta, Anders Meibom

Corals access inorganic seawater nutrients through their autotrophic endosymbiotic dinoflagellates, but also capture planktonic prey through heterotrophic feeding. Correlating NanoSIMS and TEM imaging, we visualized and quantified the subcellular fate of autotrophic and heterotrophic C and N in the coral Stylophora pistillata using stable isotopes. Six scenarios were compared after 6 h: autotrophic pulse (13C-bicarbonate, 15N-nitrate) in either unfed or regularly fed corals, and heterotrophic pulse (13C-, 15N-labelled brine shrimps) in regularly fed corals; each at ambient and elevated temperature. Host assimilation of photosynthates was similar under fed and unfed conditions, but symbionts assimilated 10% more C in fed corals. Photoautotrophic C was primarily channelled into host lipid bodies, whereas heterotrophic C and N were generally co-allocated to the tissue. Food-derived label was detected in some subcellular structures associated with the remobilisation of host lipid stores. While heterotrophic input generally exceeded autotrophic input, it was more negatively affected by elevated temperature. The reduced input from both modes of nutrition at elevated temperature was accompanied by a shift in the partitioning of C and N, benefiting epidermis and symbionts. This study provides a unique view into the nutrient partitioning in corals and highlights the tight connection of nutrient fluxes in symbiotic partners.