Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Isolation and cultivation of diatom symbionts from larger Foraminifera (Protozoa)

Abstract

THERE has been increasing interest in larger Foraminifera that have symbiotic algae which apparently adapt them to thrive in certain shallow, nutrient-poor tropical seas where they are responsible for a significant or even dominant fraction of the carbon fixed in the benthos1,2. Studies of fine structure of several species of these giant protozoa have suggested that their algal symbionts are diatoms6–12 without frustules (shells). This suggestion is itself remarkable because almost all marine invertebrate–brown algal associations (for example, those of corals and tridacnid clams) involve dinoflagellates. Unfortunately, knowledge of the architecture of the frustule is needed for the identification of a diatom. However, because the formation of the outer envelopes of the dinoflagellate and chlorophyte endosymbionts of other large species of Foraminifera is repressed within the hosts6,713 but not in culture5,14, we hoped that if the diatom endosymbionts could be isolated and cultivated they would form characteristic frustules. We report here the successful isolation and cultivation of diatom symbionts from foraminifera.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Sournia, A. Mar. Biol. 37, 29–32 (1976).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Sournia, A. Int. Rev. Ges. Gydrobiol. 62, 813–819 (1977).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Ross, C. Proc. Second int. Coreal Reef Symp. 1 Great Barrier Reef Committee. Brisbane (October) 327–333 (1974).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Lee, J., McEnery, M., Kahn, E. & Shuster, F. Micropaleontology 25, 118–140.

  5. Lee, J. in Biochemistry and Physiology of Protozoa (eds Hutner, S. & Levandowsky, M.) (Academic, New York, in the press).

  6. Leutenegger, S. Utrecht. Micropaleont. Bull. 15, 225–239 (1977).

    Google Scholar 

  7. Leutenegger, S. Cahiers de Micropaleont. 3, 5–53 (1977).

    Google Scholar 

  8. Leutenegger, S. Mar. Biol. 44, 157–164 (1977).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Dietz-Elbrachter, G. Meteorl. Forsh. Ergebnisse 6, 41–47 (1971).

    Google Scholar 

  10. Schmaljohann, R. & Röttger, R. Naturwissenschaften 63, 486 (1976).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. Hansen, H. & Buchardt, B. Utrecht. Micropaleont. Bull. 15, 205–224 (1977).

    Google Scholar 

  12. Berthold, W. Arch. Protistenk. 120, 16–62 (1978).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Müller-Merz, E. & Lee, J. J. Protozool. 23, 390–396 (1976).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Lee, J., Crockett, L., Hagen, J. & Stone, R. Br. phycol. J. 9, 407–422 (1974).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Lee, J., McEnery, M., Kennedy, E. & Rubin, H. J. Phycol. 2, 14–49 (1975).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

LEE, J., MCENERY, M., SHILO, M. et al. Isolation and cultivation of diatom symbionts from larger Foraminifera (Protozoa). Nature 280, 57–58 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1038/280057a0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/280057a0

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing