SpringerLink
Log in

The genetic identity of dinoflagellate symbionts in Caribbean octocorals

  • Report
  • Published:
Coral Reefs Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Many cnidarians (e.g., corals, octocorals, sea anemones) maintain a symbiosis with dinoflagellates (zooxanthellae). Zooxanthellae are grouped into clades, with studies focusing on scleractinian corals. We characterized zooxanthellae in 35 species of Caribbean octocorals. Most Caribbean octocoral species (88.6%) hosted clade B zooxanthellae, 8.6% hosted clade C, and one species (2.9%) hosted clades B and C. Erythropodium caribaeorum harbored clade C and a unique RFLP pattern, which, when sequenced, fell within clade C. Five octocoral species displayed no zooxanthella cladal variation with depth. Nine of the ten octocoral species sampled throughout the Caribbean exhibited no regional zooxanthella cladal differences. The exception, Briareum asbestinum, had some colonies from the Dry Tortugas exhibiting the E. caribaeorum RFLP pattern while elsewhere hosting clade B. In the Caribbean, octocorals show more symbiont specificity at the cladal level than scleractinian corals. Both octocorals and scleractinian corals, however, exhibited taxonomic affinity between zooxanthella clade and host suborder.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
EUR 32.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or Ebook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Baker AC (1999) The symbiosis ecology of reef-building corals. University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida, USA (120)

  • Baker AC (2001) Reef corals bleach to survive change. Nature 411:765–766

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Baker AC (2003) Flexibility and specificity in coral-algal symbiosis: diversity, ecology, and biogeography of Symbiodinium. Ann Rev Ecol Syst 34:661–689

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baker AC, Rowan R (1997) Diversity of symbiotic dinoflagellates (zooxanthellae) in scleractinian corals of the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific. Proceedings of the Eighth International Coral Reef Symposium, Panama 2:1301–1306

  • Baker AC, Rowan R, Knowlton N (1997) Symbiosis ecology of two Caribbean acroporid corals. Proceedings of the Eighth International Coral Reef Symposium, Panama 2:1295–1300

  • Billinghurst Z, Douglas AE, Trapido-Rosenthal HG (1997) On the genetic diversity of the symbiosis between the coral Montastraea cavernosa and zooxanthellae in Bermuda. Proceedings of the Eighth International Coral Reef Symposium, Panama 2:1291–1294

    Google Scholar 

  • Blank RJ (1987) Cell architecture of the dinoflagellate Symbiodinium sp. inhabiting the Hawaiian stony coral Montipora verrucosa. Mar Biol 94:143–155

    Google Scholar 

  • Coffroth MA, Santos SR, Goulet TL (2001) Early ontogenetic expression of specificity in a cnidarian-algal symbiosis. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 222:85–96

    Google Scholar 

  • Darius HT, Dauga C, Grimont PAD, Chungue E, Martin PMV (1998) Diversity in symbiotic dinoflagellates (Pyrrhophyta) from seven scleractinian coral species: restriction enzyme analysis of small subunit ribosomal RNA genes. J Eukaryotic Microbiol 45:619–627

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Diekmann OE, Bak RPM, Tonk L, Stam WT, Olsen JL (2002) No habitat correlation of zooxanthellae in the coral genus Madracis on a Curaçao reef. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 227:221–232

    Google Scholar 

  • Goldberg WM (1973) The ecology of the coral-octocoral communities off the southeast Florida coast: geomorphology, species composition, and zonation. Bull Mar Sci 23:465–488

    Google Scholar 

  • Goulet TL, Coffroth MA (2003a) Genetic composition of zooxanthellae between and within colonies of the octocoral Plexaura kuna, based on small subunit rDNA and multilocus DNA fingerprinting. Mar Biol 142:233–239

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Goulet TL, Coffroth MA (2003b) Stability of an octocoral-algal symbiosis over time and space. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 250:117–124

    Google Scholar 

  • Kinzie RA III (1973) The zonation of West Indian gorgonians. Bull Mar Sci 23:93–154

    Google Scholar 

  • Kinzie RA III (1974) Plexaura homomalla: the biology and ecology of a harvestable marine resource. Stud Trop Oceanogr Miami 12:22–28

    Google Scholar 

  • Kinzie RA III, Chee GS (1982) Strain-specific differences in surface antigens of symbiotic algae. Appl Environ Microbiol 44:1238–1240

    Google Scholar 

  • LaJeunesse TC (2001) Investigating the biodiversity, ecology, and phylogeny of endosymbiotic dinoflagellates in the genus Symbiodinium using the ITS region: In search of a “species” level marker. J Phycol 37:866–880

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • LaJeunesse TC (2002) Diversity and community structure of symbiotic dinoflagellates from Caribbean coral reefs. Mar Biol 141:387–400

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • LaJeunesse TC, Loh W, van Woesik R, Hoegh-Guldberg O, Schmidt GW, Fitt WK (2003) Low symbiont diversity in southern Great Barrier Reef corals, relative to those of the Caribbean. Limnol Oceanogr 48:2046–2054

    Google Scholar 

  • Lang JC, Lasker HR, Gladfelter EH, Hallock P, Jaap WC, Losada FJ, Muller RG (1992) Spatial and temporal variability during periods of “recovery” after mass bleaching on Western Atlantic coral reefs. Am Zool 32:696–706

    Google Scholar 

  • Lasker HR, Coffroth MA (1983) Octocoral distributions at Carrie Bow Cay, Belize. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 13:21–28

    Google Scholar 

  • Lasker HR, Peters EC, Coffroth MA (1984) Bleaching of reef coelenterates in the San Blas Islands, Panama. Coral Reefs 3:183–190

    Google Scholar 

  • Loh WKW, Loi T, Carter D, Hoegh-Guldberg O (2001) Genetic variability of the symbiotic dinoflagellates from the wide ranging coral species Seriatopora hystrix and Acropora longicyathus in the Indo-West Pacific. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 222:97–107

    Google Scholar 

  • Muzik K (1982) Octocorallia (Cnidaria) from Carrie Bow Cay, Belize. Smithsonian Contrib Mar Sci 12:303–310

    Google Scholar 

  • Rodriguez-Lanetty M, Loh W, Carter D, Hoegh-Guldberg O (2001) Latitudinal variability in symbiont specificity within the widespread scleractinian coral Plesiastrea versipora. Mar Biol 138:1175–1181

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rowan R (1998) Diversity and ecology of zooxanthellae on coral reefs. J Phycol 34:407–417

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rowan R, Knowlton N (1995) Intraspecific diversity and ecological zonation in coral-algal symbiosis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 92:2850–2853

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rowan R, Knowlton N, Baker A, Jara J (1997) Landscape ecology of algal symbionts creates variation in episodes of coral bleaching. Nature 388:265–269

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Rowan R, Powers DA (1991a) A molecular genetic classification of zooxanthellae and the evolution of animal-algal symbiosis. Science 251:1348–1351

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rowan R, Powers DA (1991b) Molecular genetic identification of symbiotic dinoflagellates (zooxanthellae). Mar Ecol Prog Ser 71:65–73

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rowan R, Powers DA (1992) Ribosomal RNA sequences and the diversity of symbiotic dinoflagellates (zooxanthellae). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 89:3639–3643

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sadler LA, McNally KL, Govind NS, Brunk CF, Trench Rk (1992) The nucleotide sequence of the small subunit ribosomal RNA gene from Symbiodinium pilosumm a symbiotic dinoflagellate. Curr Genet 21:409–416

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sanchez J, Diaz J, Zea S (1997) Gorgonian communities in two contrasting environments on oceanic atolls of the Southwestern Caribbean. Bull Mar Sci 61:453–465

    Google Scholar 

  • Santos SR, Taylor DJ, Coffroth MA (2001) Genetic comparisons of freshly isolated versus cultured symbiotic dinoflagellates: implications for extrapolating to the intact symbiosis. J Phycol 37:900–912

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Santos SR, Taylor DJ, Kinzie RAI, Hidaka M, Sakai K, Coffroth MA (2002) Molecular phylogeny of symbiotic dinoflagellates inferred from partial chloroplast large subunit (23S)-rDNA sequences. Molec Phylogen Evol 23:97–111

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Santos SR, Gutierrez-Rodriguez C, Coffroth MA (2003a) Phylogenetic identification of symbiotic dinoflagellates via length heteroplasmy in domain V of chloroplast large subunit (cp23S)-ribosomal DNA sequences. Mar Biotechnol 5:1–11

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Santos SR, Gutierrez-Rodriguez C, Coffroth MA (2003b) Symbiodinim sp. associations in the gorgonian Pseudopterogorgia elisabethae in the Bahamas: high levels of genetic variability and population structure in symbiotic dinoflagellates. Mar Biol 143:111–120

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Santos SR, Shearer TL, Hannes AR, Coffroth MA (2004) Fine-scale diversity and specificity in the most prevalent lineage of symbiotic dinoflagellates (Symbiodinium, Dinophyceae) of the Caribbean. Molecular Ecology 13:459–469

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Swofford D (1998) PAUP*. Phylogenetic Analysis Using Parsimony (*and other methods). Sinauer Associates, Sunderland (128)

  • Toller WW, Rowan R, Knowlton N (2001a) Repopulation of zooxanthellae in the Caribbean corals Montastraea annularis and M. faveolata following experimental and disease-associated bleaching. Biol Bull 201:360–373

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Toller WW, Rowan R, Knowlton N (2001b) Zooxanthellae of the Montastraea annularis species complex: patterns of distribution of four taxa of Symbiodinium on different reefs and across depths. Biol Bull 201:348–359

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Toller WW, Rowan R, Knowlton N (2002) Genetic evidence for a protozoan (phylum Apicomplexa) associated with corals of the Montastraea annularis species complex. Coral Reefs 21:143–146

    Google Scholar 

  • Trench RK (1993) Microalgal-invertebrate symbioses: a review. Endocytobiosis and Cell Research 9:135–175

    Google Scholar 

  • Trench RK (1997) Diversity of symbiotic dinoflagellates and the evolution of microalgal-invertebrate symbioses. Proceedings of the Eighth International Coral Reef Symposium, Panama 2:1275–1286

    Google Scholar 

  • van Oppen MJH, Palstra FP, Piquet AMT, Miller DJ (2001) Patterns of coral-dinoflagellate associations in Acropora: significance of local availability and physiology of Symbiodinium strains and host-symbiont selectivity. Proc R Soc Lond B 268:1759–1767

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wilcox TP (1997) The evolution of algal-invertebrate symbioses. University of Houston, Houston, Texas, USA (123)

  • Wilcox TP (1998) Large-subunit ribosomal RNA systematics of symbiotic dinoflagellates: morphology does not recapitulate phylogeny. Molec Phylogen Evol 10:436–448

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Williams EH Jr, Bunkley-Williams L (1990) The world-wide coral reef bleaching cycle and related sources of coral mortality. Atoll Res Bull 335:1–71

    Google Scholar 

  • Zar JH (ed) (1984) Biostatistical analysis. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs (718)

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank E. Beiring, D. Goulet, H. Lasker, S. Santos, and T. Swain for assistance in the field. A special thank you goes to E. Beiring, D. Brazeau, H. Lasker and S. McKenna, for providing some of the samples. We are especially grateful to Juan Sanchez for his expertise and assistance in identifying the octocorals. We are grateful to R. Rowan for providing the Symbiodinium clonal standards and T. Shearer for primer and cnidarian sequences. We thank the Republic of Panama and the Kuna Indians for permission to work in the San Blas Islands, and the staff and scientists of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, particularly N. Knowlton, for their assistance. This work was supported by the American Museum of Natural History, Lerner Gray Fund for Marine Research; Houston Underwater Club, Seaspace Scholarship; Mark Diamond Research Fund; PADI Foundation; Sigma ** Society, Grant-in-Aid of Research; and a Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Short-Term Fellowship to TLG; NOAA (NURP) grant NA16RU1496 to University of Mississippi (G. Gaston, P.I.); and NSF grant OCE9530057 to MAC.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Mississippi, University, MS, 38677, USA

    Tamar L. Goulet

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, 14260, USA

    Mary Alice Coffroth

Authors
  1. Tamar L. Goulet
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Mary Alice Coffroth
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tamar L. Goulet.

Additional information

Communicated by R.C. Carpenter

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Goulet, T.L., Coffroth, M.A. The genetic identity of dinoflagellate symbionts in Caribbean octocorals. Coral Reefs 23, 465–472 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-004-0408-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00338-004-0408-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation