Coral symbiotic algae calcifyex hospitein partnership with bacteria

Abstract

Dinoflagellates of the genusSymbiodiniumare commonly recognized as invertebrate endosymbionts that are of central importance for the functioning of coral reef ecosystems. However, the endosymbiotic phase withinSymbiodiniumlife history is inherently tied to a more cryptic free-living (ex hospite) phase that remains largely unexplored. Here we show that free-livingSymbiodiniumspp. in culture commonly form calcifying bacterial–algal communities that produce aragonitic spherulites and encase the dinoflagellates as endolithic cells. This process is driven bySymbiodiniumphotosynthesis but occurs only in partnership with bacteria. Our findings not only place dinoflagellates on the map of microbial–algal organomineralization processes but also point toward an endolithic phase in theSymbiodiniumlife history, a phenomenon that may provide new perspectives on the biology and ecology ofSymbiodiniumspp. and the evolutionary history of the coral–dinoflagellate symbiosis.