Symbiont diversity within Loripes orbiculatus and the case for multiple hosts

Abstract

Seagrasses support immense biodiversity and are critical for maintaining coastal ecosystem health. These foundation species benefit from a three-way facultative relationship with one of the common inhabitants of seagrass meadows, lucinid bivalves, which host specific bacterial Ca. Thiodiazotropha symbionts. Relatives of the bivalve symbionts have been detected on seagrass roots raising the possibility that these symbionts may colonize both animals and plants; however, no study has yet compared bivalve- and seagrass-associated symbionts at the same site and time. Our combination of 16S rRNA amplicon and metagenome sequencing revealed a greater diversity than was previously observed within both lucinid bivalves and on seagrass roots from the Adriatic Sea. We show that two of the Ca. Thiodiazotropha ASVs found on seagrass roots are identical to those found in bivalve hosts at the same site. This suggests that symbiont sharing may occur in the seagrass habitat between these two species, which has important evolutionary and ecological implications for both hosts and symbionts, as well as thin response to climate change.