So. There is bacteria inside the algae inside our corals (article share)

[Azedenkae]

Intracellular bacteria are common and taxonomically diverse in cultured and in hospite algal endosymbionts of coral reefs - The ISME Journal

Corals house a variety of microorganisms which they depend on for their survival, including endosymbiotic dinoflagellates (Symbiodiniaceae) and bacteria. While cnidarian–microorganism interactions are widely studied, Symbiodiniaceae–bacteria interactions are only just beginning to receive...

www.nature.com

Just published this year. So endosymbiotic Symbiodiniaceae dinoflagellates living inside the cells of corals and stuff... have bacteria living inside their own cells.

Long story short, according to the study it is not 100% clear what roles these bacteria may play, but could potentially be important in scavenging reactive oxygen species produced by photosynthetic activities of the dinoflagellates, and are therefore potential candidates for probiotics that could be supplied to corals to protect against/help fight off coral bleaching.

 

[mdb_talon]

Thanks for the summary. Honestly i am not even sure that article was in English based off how many words i did not understand.

 

[Azedenkae]

Thanks for the summary. Honestly i am not even sure that article was in English based off how many words i did not understand.

You're welcome. I mean this is way more up my alley and I still had to give it a good read to understand it, so understandable. XD

 

[flampton]

Interesting! The study was very well done. It showed that certain bacteria are closely associated or found intracellularly within the investigated Symbiodinium. That is very cool!

However the results/data do not support most of their talking points within the discussion. That is unfortunate.

 

[Azedenkae]

Interesting! The study was very well done. It showed that certain bacteria are closely associated or found intracellularly within the investigated Symbiodinium. That is very cool!

However the results/data do not support most of their talking points within the discussion. That is unfortunate.

I do agree. The FISH results are great, but inferences from phylogenetic information leave some to be desired. I think in some cases one can be quite confident with functional predictions based on phylogeny, like inferring nitrification by the various nitrifying bacterial genera for example. It would seem like even if today a new species from one of these genera was characterized, they'd very likely also be capable of nitrification.

But I would be hesitant to infer too much in cases such as this, because there are some genera with species that can vary quite a lot metabolically. Especially when only one or few representatives are actually studied and it is unclear just how much variation there is.

It is still interesting nonetheless. Wish they did some genomic studies of these bacteria. Maybe that's the next step.