Abstract
Reef-building corals are a fundamental pillar of coral reef ecosystems in tropical and subtropical shallow environments. Corals harbor symbiotic dinoflagellates belonging to the family Symbiodiniaceae, commonly known as zooxanthellae. Extensive research has been conducted on this symbiotic relationship, yet the fundamental information about the distribution and localization of Symbiodiniaceae cells in corals is still limited. This information is crucial to understanding the mechanism underlying the metabolite exchange between corals and their algal symbionts, as well as the metabolic flow within holobionts. To examine the distribution of Symbiodiniaceae cells within corals, in this study, we used fluorescence imaging and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) mass spectrometry imaging (MS-Imaging) on branches of the Acropora tenuis coral. We successfully prepared frozen sections of the coral for molecular imaging without fixing or decalcifying the coral branches. By combining the results of MS-Imaging with that of the fluorescence imaging, we determined that the algal Symbiodiniaceae symbionts were not only localized in the tentacle and surface region of the coral branches but also inhabited the in inner parts. Therefore, the molecular imaging technique used in this study could be valuable to further investigate the molecular dynamics between corals and their symbionts.
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No datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank Dr. Go Suzuki of Fisheries Technology Institute, Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency, for coral sampling.
Funding
This study was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science KAKENHI grant No. 21H04742 to H.Y.
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Shudai Sasaki, Hiroshi Yamashita, and Naoko Goto-Inoue contributed to the conception and design of the study. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Shudai Sasaki, Tsukasa Mori, Hirofumi Enomoto, Sakiko Nakamura, Hideo Yokota, Hiroshi Yamashita, and Naoko Goto-Inoue. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Shudai Sasaki and Naoko Goto-Inoue, and all the authors commented on the manuscript. All the authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
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Sasaki, S., Mori, T., Enomoto, H. et al. Assessing Molecular Localization of Symbiont Microalgae in Coral Branches Through Mass Spectrometry Imaging. Mar Biotechnol 26, 223–229 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10126-024-10294-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10126-024-10294-z