Through this method they identified the new bacterial species and linked it to the production of the toxins. Then they used computer algorithms to figure out which genes belonged to which organism. They sequenced the collective genomic information of the slugs, algae and their microbiomes, which are the bacteria that live inside these organisms. Researchers at Princeton and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science’s Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology unwound this tale using powerful genomic techniques to decipher who does what in the relationship. “The implications are big for our understanding of how bacteria, plants and animals form mechanistic dependencies, where biologically active molecules transcend the original producer and end up reaching and benefitting a network of interacting partners.” “It’s a complicated system and a very unique relationship among these three organisms,” said Mohamed Donia, assistant professor of molecular biology at Princeton University and senior author on the study.
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In this example, the slug gets food and defensive chemicals, the algae get chemicals, and the bacteria get a home and free meals for life in the form of nutrients from their algae host. A symbiotic relationship is one in which several organisms closely interact. rufescens, marine algae of the genus Bryopsis, and the newly identified bacteria - form a three-way symbiotic relationship. The intertwined story of these three characters - the sea slug E. In turn, the bacteria devote at least a fifth of their metabolic efforts to making poisonous molecules for their host. The team found that the bacteria have become so dependent on their algal home that they cannot survive on their own. In a new study, a Princeton-led team has discovered that these toxic chemicals originate from a newly identified species of bacteria living inside the algae. Delicate yet voracious, the sea slug Elysia rufescens grazes cow-like on bright green tufts of algae, rooting around to find the choicest bits.īut this inch-long marine mollusk gains not only a tasty meal - it also slurps up the algae’s defensive chemicals, which the slug can then deploy against its own predators.
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