Characterization of the population of the sulfur-oxidizing symbiont of Codakia orbicularis (Bivalvia, Lucinidae) by single-cell analyses

The symbiotic 'all-rounders': Partnerships between marine animals and chemosynthetic nitrogen-fixing bacteria

Nitrogen fixation is a widespread metabolic trait in certain types of microorganisms called diazotrophs. Bioavailable nitrogen is limited in various habitats on land and in the sea, and accordingly, a range of plant, animal, and single-celled eukaryotes have evolved symbioses with diverse diazotrophic bacteria, with enormous economic and ecological benefits. Until recently, all known nitrogen-fixing symbionts were heterotrophs such as nodulating rhizobia, or photoautotrophs such as cyanobacteria. In 2016, the first chemoautotrophic nitrogen-fixing symbionts were discovered in a common family of marine clams, the Lucinidae. Chemosynthetic nitrogen-fixing symbionts use the chemical energy stored in reduced sulfur compounds to power carbon and nitrogen fixation, making them metabolic 'all-rounders' with multiple functions in the symbiosis. This distinguishes them from heterotrophic symbionts that require a source of carbon from their host, and their chemosynthetic metabolism distinguishes them from photoautotrophic symbionts that produce oxygen, a potent inhibitor of nitrogenase. In this review, we consider evolutionary aspects of this discovery, by comparing strategies that have evolved for hosting intracellular nitrogen-fixing symbionts in plants and animals. The symbiosis between lucinid clams and chemosynthetic nitrogen-fixing bacteria also has important ecological impacts, as they form a nested symbiosis with endangered marine seagrasses. Notably, nitrogen fixation by lucinid symbionts may help support seagrass health by providing a source of nitrogen in seagrass habitats. These discoveries were enabled by new techniques for understanding the activity of microbial populations in natural environments. However, an animal (or plant) host represents a diverse landscape of microbial niches due to its structural, chemical, immune and behavioural properties. In future, methods that resolve microbial activity at the single cell level will provide radical new insights into the regulation of nitrogen fixation in chemosynthetic symbionts, shedding new light on the evolution of nitrogen-fixing symbioses in contrasting hosts and environments.

Bacterial symbiont subpopulations have different roles in a deep-sea symbiosis

The hydrothermal vent tubeworm Riftia pachyptila hosts a single 16S rRNA phylotype of intracellular sulfur-oxidizing symbionts, which vary considerably in cell morphology and exhibit a remarkable degree of physiological diversity and redundancy, even in the same host. To elucidate whether multiple metabolic routes are employed in the same cells or rather in distinct symbiont subpopulations, we enriched symbionts according to cell size by density gradient centrifugation. Metaproteomic analysis, microscopy, and flow cytometry strongly suggest that Riftia symbiont cells of different sizes represent metabolically dissimilar stages of a physiological differentiation process: While small symbionts actively divide and may establish cellular symbiont-host interaction, large symbionts apparently do not divide, but still replicate DNA, leading to DNA endoreduplication. Moreover, in large symbionts, carbon fixation and biomass production seem to be metabolic priorities. We propose that this division of labor between smaller and larger symbionts benefits the productivity of the symbiosis as a whole.

Organ transcriptomes of the lucinid clam Loripes orbiculatus (Poli, 1791) provide insights into their specialised roles in the biology of a chemosymbiotic bivalve

BACKGROUND

The lucinid clam Loripes orbiculatus lives in a nutritional symbiosis with sulphur-oxidizing bacteria housed in its gills. Although our understanding of the lucinid endosymbiont physiology and metabolism has made significant progress, relatively little is known about how the host regulates the symbiosis at the genetic and molecular levels. We generated transcriptomes from four L. orbiculatus organs (gills, foot, visceral mass, and mantle) for differential expression analyses, to better understand this clam's physiological adaptations to a chemosymbiotic lifestyle, and how it regulates nutritional and immune interactions with its symbionts.

RESULTS

The transcriptome profile of the symbiont-housing gill suggests the regulation of apoptosis and innate immunity are important processes in this organ. We also identified many transcripts encoding ion transporters from the solute carrier family that possibly allow metabolite exchange between host and symbiont. Despite the clam holobiont's clear reliance on chemosynthesis, the clam's visceral mass, which contains the digestive tract, is characterised by enzymes involved in digestion, carbohydrate recognition and metabolism, suggesting that L. orbiculatus has a mixotrophic diet. The foot transcriptome is dominated by the biosynthesis of glycoproteins for the construction of mucus tubes, and receptors that mediate the detection of chemical cues in the environment.

CONCLUSIONS

The transcriptome profiles of gills, mantle, foot and visceral mass provide insights into the molecular basis underlying the functional specialisation of bivalve organs adapted to a chemosymbiotic lifestyle.

Beyond the bulk: disclosing the life of single microbial cells

Microbial single cell analysis has led to discoveries that are beyond what can be resolved with population-based studies. It provides a pristine view of the mechanisms that organize cellular physiology, unbiased by population heterogeneity or uncontrollable environmental impacts. A holistic description of cellular functions at the single cell level requires analytical concepts beyond the miniaturization of existing technologies, defined but uncontrolled by the biological system itself. This review provides an overview of the latest advances in single cell technologies and demonstrates their potential. Opportunities and limitations of single cell microbiology are discussed using selected application-related examples.

The bivalve Thyasira cf. gouldi hosts chemoautotrophic symbiont populations with strain level diversity

Invertebrates from various marine habitats form nutritional symbioses with chemosynthetic bacteria. In chemosynthetic symbioses, both the mode of symbiont transmission and the site of bacterial housing can affect the composition of the symbiont population. Vertically transmitted symbionts, as well as those hosted intracellularly, are more likely to form clonal populations within their host. Conversely, symbiont populations that are environmentally acquired and extracellular may be more likely to be heterogeneous/mixed within host individuals, as observed in some mytilid bivalves. The symbionts of thyasirid bivalves are also extracellular, but limited 16S rRNA sequencing data suggest that thyasirid individuals contain uniform symbiont populations. In a recent study, Thyasira cf. gouldi individuals from Bonne Bay, Newfoundland, Canada were found to host one of three 16S rRNA phylotypes of sulfur-oxidizing gammaproteobacteria, suggesting environmental acquisition of symbionts and some degree of site-specificity. Here, we use Sanger sequencing of both 16S RNA and the more variable ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase (RuBisCO) PCR products to further examine Thyasira cf. gouldi symbiont diversity at the scale of host individuals, as well as to elucidate any temporal or spatial patterns in symbiont diversity within Bonne Bay, and relationships with host OTU or size. We obtained symbiont 16S rRNA and RuBisCO Form II sequences from 54 and 50 host individuals, respectively, during nine sampling trips to three locations over four years. Analyses uncovered the same three closely related 16S rRNA phylotypes obtained previously, as well as three divergent RuBisCO phylotypes; these were found in various pair combinations within host individuals, suggesting incidents of horizontal gene transfer during symbiont evolution. While we found no temporal patterns in phylotype distribution or relationships with host OTU or size, some spatial effects were noted, with some phylotypes only found within particular sampling sites. The sequencing also revealed symbiont populations within individual hosts that appeared to be a mixture of different phylotypes, based on multiple base callings at divergent sites. This work provides further evidence that Thyasira cf. gouldi acquires its symbionts from the environment, and supports the theory that hosts can harbour symbiont populations consisting of multiple, closely related bacterial phylotypes.

Nitrogen fixation in a chemoautotrophic lucinid symbiosis

The shallow water bivalve Codakia orbicularis lives in symbiotic association with a sulfur-oxidizing bacterium in its gills. The endosymbiont fixes CO₂ and thus generates organic carbon compounds, which support the host's growth. To investigate the uncultured symbiont's metabolism and symbiont-host interactions in detail we conducted a proteogenomic analysis of purified bacteria. Unexpectedly, our results reveal a hitherto completely unrecognized feature of the C. orbicularis symbiont's physiology: the symbiont's genome encodes all proteins necessary for biological nitrogen fixation (diazotrophy). Expression of the respective genes under standard ambient conditions was confirmed by proteomics. Nitrogenase activity in the symbiont was also verified by enzyme activity assays. Phylogenetic analysis of the bacterial nitrogenase reductase NifH revealed the symbiont's close relationship to free-living nitrogen-fixing Proteobacteria from the seagrass sediment. The C. orbicularis symbiont, here tentatively named 'Candidatus Thiodiazotropha endolucinida', may thus not only sustain the bivalve's carbon demands. C. orbicularis may also benefit from a steady supply of fixed nitrogen from its symbiont-a scenario that is unprecedented in comparable chemoautotrophic symbioses.

Contrasted responses of Ruditapes decussatus (filter and deposit feeding) and Loripes lacteus (symbiotic) exposed to polymetallic contamination (Port-Camargue, France)

The use of symbiotic bivalve species to assess the effect of anthropogenic metal pollution was rarely investigated whereas data on filter feeding bivalves are common. The aim of this study was the exposure of two bivalve species, Ruditapes decussatus and Loripes lacteus to polymetallic pollution gradient, originating from harbor activities (Port-Camargue, south of France). Both bivalves differ by their trophic status, filter and deposit feeder for Ruditapes and symbiotic for Loripes that underlies potential differences in metal sensibility. The bivalves were immerged in July (for Ruditapes during 2 and 8 days) and in August 2012 (for Loripes during 2, 6 and 8 days) in the water column of the harbor, at 3 stations according to pollution gradient. Metal concentrations (Cu, Mn, Zn) in the water column were quantified as dissolved metals (measured by ICP-MS) and as labile metals (measured by ICP-MS using DGT technique). For each exposure time, accumulation of metals in the soft tissue of bivalves ("bioaccumulation") was measured for both species. In addition, specific parameters, according to the trophic status of each bivalve, were investigated: filtering activity (specific clearance rate, SCR) for Ruditapes, and relative cell size (SSC) and genomic content (FL1) of bacterial symbionts hosted in the gills of Loripes. The SCR of Ruditapes drops from 100% (control) to 34.7% after 2 days of exposure in the less contaminated site (station 8). On the other hand, the relative cell size (SSC) and genomic content (FL1), measured by flow cytometry were not impacted by the pollution gradient. Bioaccumulation was compared for both species, showing a greater capability of Cu accumulation for Loripes without lethal effect. Mn, Fe and Zn were generally not accumulated by any of the species according to the pollution gradient. The trophic status of each species may greatly influence their respective responses to polymetallic pollution.

Comparative modifications in bacterial gill-endosymbiotic populations of the two bivalves Codakia orbiculata and Lucina pensylvanica during bacterial loss and reacquisition

Until now, the culture of sulphur-oxidizing bacterial symbionts associated with marine invertebrates remains impossible. Therefore, few studies focused on symbiont's physiology under stress conditions. In this study, we carried out a comparative experiment based on two different species of lucinid bivalves (Codakia orbiculata and Lucina pensylvanica) under comparable stress factors. The bivalves were starved for 6 months in sulphide-free filtered seawater. For C. orbiculata only, starved individuals were then put back to the field, in natural sediment. We used in situ hybridization, flow cytometry and X-ray fluorescence to characterize the symbiont population hosted in the gills of both species. In L. pensylvanica, no decrease in symbiont abundance was observed throughout the starvation experiment, whereas elemental sulphur slowly decreased to zero after 3 months of starvation. Conversely, in C. orbiculata, symbiont abundance within bacteriocytes decreased rapidly and sulphur from symbionts disappeared during the first weeks of the experiment. The modifications of the cellular characteristics (SSC--relative cell size and FL1--genomic content) of the symbiotic populations along starvation were not comparable between species. Return to the sediment of starved C. orbiculata individuals led to a rapid (2-4 weeks) recovery of symbiotic cellular characteristics, comparable with unstressed symbionts. These results suggest that endosymbiotic population regulation is host-species-dependent in lucinids.

Metaproteomics reveals abundant transposase expression in mutualistic endosymbionts

Transposases, enzymes that catalyze the movement of mobile genetic elements, are the most abundant genes in nature. While many bacteria encode an abundance of transposases in their genomes, the current paradigm is that the expression of transposase genes is tightly regulated and generally low due to its severe mutagenic effects. In the current study, we detected the highest number of transposase proteins ever reported in bacteria, in symbionts of the gutless marine worm Olavius algarvensis with metaproteomics. At least 26 different transposases from 12 different families were detected, and genomic and proteomic analyses suggest that many of these are active. This high expression of transposases indicates that the mechanisms for their tight regulation have been disabled or no longer exist.

Plasticity of symbiont acquisition throughout the life cycle of the shallow-water tropical lucinid Codakia orbiculata (Mollusca: Bivalvia)

In marine invertebrates that acquire their symbionts from the environment, these are generally only taken up during early developmental stages. In the symbiosis between lucinid clams and their intracellular sulfur-oxidizing bacteria, it has been shown that the juveniles acquire their symbionts from an environmental stock of free-living symbiont forms, but it is not known if adult clams are still competent to take up symbiotic bacteria from the environment. In this study, we investigated symbiont acquisition in adult specimens of the lucinid clam Codakia orbiculata, using transmission electron microscopy, fluorescence in situ hybridization, immunohistochemistry and PCR. We show here that adults that had no detectable symbionts after starvation in aquaria for 6 months, rapidly reacquired symbionts within days after being returned to their natural environments in the field. Control specimens that were starved and then exposed to seawater aquaria with sulfide did not reacquire symbionts. This indicates that the reacquisition of symbionts in the starved clams returned to the field was not caused by high division rates of a small pool of remaining symbionts that we were not able to detect with the methods used here. Immunohistochemistry with an antibody against actin, a protein involved in the phagocytosis of intracellular bacteria, showed that actin was expressed at the apical ends of the gill cells that took up symbionts, providing further evidence that the symbionts were acquired from the environment. Interestingly, actin expression was also observed in symbiont-containing cells of untreated lucinids freshly collected from the environment, indicating that symbiont acquisition from the environment occurs continuously in these clams throughout their lifetime.

On the evolutionary ecology of symbioses between chemosynthetic bacteria and bivalves

Mutualistic associations between bacteria and eukaryotes occur ubiquitously in nature, forming the basis for key ecological and evolutionary innovations. Some of the most prominent examples of these symbioses are chemosynthetic bacteria and marine invertebrates living in the absence of sunlight at deep-sea hydrothermal vents and in sediments rich in reduced sulfur compounds. Here, chemosynthetic bacteria living in close association with their hosts convert CO₂ or CH₄ into organic compounds and provide the host with necessary nutrients. The dominant macrofauna of hydrothermal vent and cold seep ecosystems all depend on the metabolic activity of chemosynthetic bacteria, which accounts for almost all primary production in these complex ecosystems. Many of these enigmatic mutualistic associations are found within the molluscan class Bivalvia. Currently, chemosynthetic symbioses have been reported from five distinct bivalve families (Lucinidae, Mytilidae, Solemyidae, Thyasiridae, and Vesicomyidae). This brief review aims to provide an overview of the diverse physiological and genetic adaptations of symbiotic chemosynthetic bacteria and their bivalve hosts.

Dynamics of bacterial communities in cockles (Cerastoderma edule) with respect to trematode parasite (Bucephalus minimus) infestation

The bacterial communities associated with the cockle (Cerastoderma edule) were investigated at the individual level through a 10-month monitoring programme. Temporal changes and those changes associated with a common parasite of the cockle, Bucephalus minimus, were investigated by monthly sampling of individuals, selected based on their shell length (cohort monitoring). Cockle bacterial community abundance (CBCA) and diversity (CBCD) were estimated by epifluorescence microscopy counts and automated ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis, respectively. CBCA showed a temporal pattern peaking at 30 × 10(6) cells per gram of cockle flesh and intervalval liquid in October and a significant 1.8-fold increase linked with B. minimus occurrence. CBCD was characterized by 112 ± 26 intergenic transcribed spacer (ITS) per individual and showed a relative homology between individuals (52 ± 6%, Jaccard similarity) in spite of more than 30% of rare ITS. Consistent with an undisturbed evolution of the condition index of the studied cohort individuals as an estimate of their physiological state, neither temporal nor parasite-induced change in CBCA has been related to marked changes in CBCD.

Methods for unveiling cryptic microbial partnerships in nature

Syntrophy and mutualism play a central role in carbon and nutrient cycling by microorganisms. Yet our ability to recognize these partnerships in nature or to effectively study their behavior in culture has been hindered by the inherent interdependence of syntrophic associations, their dynamic behavior, and their frequent existence at thermodynamic limits. Now solutions to these challenges are emerging in new methodologies. These include: comparative metagenomics and transcriptomics; discovery-based methods such as Magneto-FISH; and metabolic substrate tracking using stable isotopes coupled either with density gradient separation (SIP) or with FISH-SIMS. These novel approaches are redefining the way we study microbial mutualism and are making intimate microbial associations accessible to both identification and characterization in their native habitats.

Effects of long-term starvation on a host bivalve (Codakia orbicularis, Lucinidae) and its symbiont population

The bivalve Codakia orbicularis, hosting sulfur-oxidizing gill endosymbionts, was starved (in artificial seawater filtered through a 0.22-mum-pore-size membrane) for a long-term experiment (4 months). The effects of starvation were observed using transmission electron microscopy, fluorescence in situ hybridization and catalyzed reporter deposition (CARD-FISH), and flow cytometry to monitor the anatomical and physiological modifications in the gill organization of the host and in the symbiotic population housed in bacteriocytes. The abundance of the symbiotic population decreased through starvation, with a loss of one-third of the bacterial population each month, as shown by CARD-FISH. At the same time, flow cytometry revealed significant changes in the physiology of symbiotic cells, with a decrease in cell size and modifications to the nucleic acid content, while most of the symbionts maintained a high respiratory activity (measured using the 5-cyano-2,3-ditolyl tetrazolium chloride method). Progressively, the number of symbiont subpopulations was reduced, and the subsequent multigenomic state, characteristic of this symbiont in freshly collected clams, turned into one and five equivalent genome copies for the two remaining subpopulations after 3 months. Concomitant structural modifications appeared in the gill organization. Lysosymes became visible in the bacteriocytes, while large symbionts disappeared, and bacteriocytes were gradually replaced by granule cells throughout the entire lateral zone. Those data suggested that host survival under these starvation conditions was linked to symbiont digestion as the main nutritional source.

Easy flat embedding of oriented samples in hydrophilic resin (LR White) under controlled atmosphere: application allowing both nucleic acid hybridizations (CARD-FISH) and ultrastructural observations

Hydrophilic resins present the advantage of making possible both hybridization experiments involving either antibodies or oligonucleotide probes and ultrastructural observations. Whereas various embedding protocols are available, only very few concern flat-embedded preparations. In this study we describe an easy protocol for flat embedding of small-oriented biological samples in hydrophilic resins (LR White). The most important constraints are (i) to polymerize the samples under argon-saturated atmosphere (avoiding oxygen which is an inhibitor of LR White polymerization) and (ii) to use transparent flat embedding molds. Two kinds of samples were analyzed: small pieces of large tissue that need to be accurately oriented for a valuable analysis and very small organisms such as free-living nematodes, which are very hard to investigate with conventional paraffin wax embedding techniques. Semi-thin sections strongly reinforce the quality of the observations from oligonucleotidic in situ hybridization experiments by reducing the background usually encountered in oligonucleotide probe hybridization experiments from sections. Such protocols could also permit a cheap alternative to the use of laser scanning confocal microscopes for oligonucleotidic in situ hybridization as in FISH and CARD-FISH experiments from histological sections. The interest of this embedding protocol is reinforced by the fact that molecular in situ hybridization experiments and ultrastructural observations from thin sections can be carried out from a single-small individual (<1mm in length) sample.