Journal
PHYCOLOGIA
Volume 60, Issue 5, Pages 419-426Publisher
TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
DOI: 10.1080/00318884.2020.1843349
Keywords
Biological soil crust; Cyanobacteria; Desiccation tolerance; Green algae; Interspecies interaction
Categories
Funding
- Israeli Ministry of Science and Technology
- Israeli Science Foundation
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
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The green alga Chlorella sp. requires the presence of the filamentous cyanobacterium Leptolyngbya sp. or its components to survive desiccation in the field, suggesting a mutualistic relationship where Leptolyngbya sp. enables the survival of Chlorella sp. while inhibiting its growth.
The green alga Chlorella sp. and the filamentous cyanobacterium Leptolyngbya sp., regularly cope with various stressors including frequent hydration-desiccation cycles. When grown in axenic cultures, Chlorella sp. is unable to resurrect even after very slow desiccation unless desiccation takes place in the presence of Leptolyngbya sp. or a lysate thereof. When Chlorella sp. was provided with extracellular polysaccharides from Leptolyngbya sp., or its main sugar constituents, it was able to be resurrected after mild desiccation. These findings suggest that desiccation tolerance of Chlorella sp. in the field depends on the presence of Leptolyngbya sp. or components thereof. Chlorella sp. was originally isolated as a contaminant in a decaying stationary culture of Leptolyngbya sp. that was established by the addition of a cyanobacterial growth media to biological soil crusts. Co-incubation with a dialysis tube containing Leptolyngbya sp. severely inhibited growth of Chlorella sp. These data suggest that secondary metabolites excreted by Leptolyngbya sp., the nature of which is yet unknown, inhibit growth of Chlorella sp. Thus, though Leptolyngbya sp. enables the survival of Chlorella sp. in a desert habitat, it simultaneously inhibits growth of this potential competitor. The combination of positive and negative effects of Leptolyngbya sp. on fitness of Chlorella sp. creates a scenario in which the former tightly controls the abundance of the latter.
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