The microbiota of intertidal macroalgae Fucus distichus is site-specific and resistant to change following transplant.
Environ Microbiol. 2021 05; 23(5):2617-2631.EM

Abstract

It is unclear how host-associated microbial communities will be affected by future environmental change. Characterizing how microbiota differ across sites with varying environmental conditions and assessing the stability of the microbiota in response to abiotic variation are critical steps towards predicting outcomes of environmental change. Intertidal organisms are valuable study systems because they experience extreme variation in environmental conditions on tractable timescales such as tide cycles and across small spatial gradients in the intertidal zone. Here we show a widespread intertidal macroalgae, Fucus distichus, hosts site-specific microbiota over small (meters to kilometres) spatial scales. We demonstrate stability of site-specific microbial associations by manipulating the host environment and microbial species pool with common garden and reciprocal transplant experiments. We hypothesized that F. distichus microbiota would readily shift to reflect the contemporary environment due to selective filtering by abiotic conditions and/or colonization by microbes from the new environment or nearby hosts. Instead, F. distichus microbiota was stable for days after transplantation in both the laboratory and field. Our findings expand the current understanding of microbiota dynamics on an intertidal foundation species. These results may also point to adaptations for withstanding short-term environmental variation, in hosts and/or microbes, facilitating stable host-microbial associations.

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Authors+Show Affiliations

Davis KM

Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada. Department of Botany, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada.

Mazel F

Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada. Department of Botany, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada.

Parfrey LW

Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada. Department of Botany, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada. Department of Zoology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada. Hakai Institute, PO Box 309, Heriot Bay, BC, V0P 1H0, Canada.

MeSH

Adaptation, PhysiologicalFucusMicrobiotaSeaweed

Pub Type(s)

Journal Article

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Language

eng

PubMed ID

33817918

Citation

Davis, Katherine M., et al. "The Microbiota of Intertidal Macroalgae Fucus Distichus Is Site-specific and Resistant to Change Following Transplant." Environmental Microbiology, vol. 23, no. 5, 2021, pp. 2617-2631.

Davis KM, Mazel F, Parfrey LW. The microbiota of intertidal macroalgae Fucus distichus is site-specific and resistant to change following transplant. Environ Microbiol. 2021;23(5):2617-2631.

Davis, K. M., Mazel, F., & Parfrey, L. W. (2021). The microbiota of intertidal macroalgae Fucus distichus is site-specific and resistant to change following transplant. Environmental Microbiology, 23(5), 2617-2631. https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.15496

Davis KM, Mazel F, Parfrey LW. The Microbiota of Intertidal Macroalgae Fucus Distichus Is Site-specific and Resistant to Change Following Transplant. Environ Microbiol. 2021;23(5):2617-2631. PubMed PMID: 33817918.

* Article titles in AMA citation format should be in sentence-case

TY - JOUR T1 - The microbiota of intertidal macroalgae Fucus distichus is site-specific and resistant to change following transplant. AU - Davis,Katherine M, AU - Mazel,Florent, AU - Parfrey,Laura Wegener, Y1 - 2021/04/14/ PY - 2021/03/29/revised PY - 2020/10/08/received PY - 2021/03/30/accepted PY - 2021/4/6/pubmed PY - 2021/10/16/medline PY - 2021/4/5/entrez SP - 2617 EP - 2631 JF - Environmental microbiology JO - Environ Microbiol VL - 23 IS - 5 N2 - It is unclear how host-associated microbial communities will be affected by future environmental change. Characterizing how microbiota differ across sites with varying environmental conditions and assessing the stability of the microbiota in response to abiotic variation are critical steps towards predicting outcomes of environmental change. Intertidal organisms are valuable study systems because they experience extreme variation in environmental conditions on tractable timescales such as tide cycles and across small spatial gradients in the intertidal zone. Here we show a widespread intertidal macroalgae, Fucus distichus, hosts site-specific microbiota over small (meters to kilometres) spatial scales. We demonstrate stability of site-specific microbial associations by manipulating the host environment and microbial species pool with common garden and reciprocal transplant experiments. We hypothesized that F. distichus microbiota would readily shift to reflect the contemporary environment due to selective filtering by abiotic conditions and/or colonization by microbes from the new environment or nearby hosts. Instead, F. distichus microbiota was stable for days after transplantation in both the laboratory and field. Our findings expand the current understanding of microbiota dynamics on an intertidal foundation species. These results may also point to adaptations for withstanding short-term environmental variation, in hosts and/or microbes, facilitating stable host-microbial associations. SN - 1462-2920 UR - https://www.unboundmedicine.com/medline/citation/33817918/The_microbiota_of_intertidal_macroalgae_Fucus_distichus_is_site_specific_and_resistant_to_change_following_transplant_ DB - PRIME DP - Unbound Medicine ER -

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The microbiota of intertidal macroalgae Fucus distichus is site-specific and resistant to change following transplant.Environ Microbiol. 2021 05; 23(5):2617-2631.EM