Horizontal acquisition of Symbiodiniaceae in the Anemonia viridis (Cnidaria, Anthozoa) species complex.

All metazoans are in fact holobionts, resulting from the association of several organisms, and organismal adaptation is then due to the composite response of this association to the environment. Deciphering the mechanisms of symbiont acquisition in a holobiont is therefore essential to understanding the extent of its adaptive capacities. In cnidarians, some species acquire their photosynthetic symbionts directly from their parents (vertical transmission) but may also acquire symbionts from the environment (horizontal acquisition) at the adult stage. The Mediterranean snakelocks sea anemone, Anemonia viridis (Forskål, 1775), passes down symbionts from one generation to the next by vertical transmission, but the capacity for such horizontal acquisition is still unexplored. To unravel the flexibility of the association between the different host lineages identified in A. viridis and its Symbiodiniaceae, we genotyped both the animal hosts and their symbiont communities in members of host clones in five different locations in the North Western Mediterranean Sea. The composition of within-host-symbiont populations was more dependent on the geographical origin of the hosts than their membership to a given lineage or even to a given clone. Additionally, similarities in host-symbiont communities were greater among genets (i.e. among different clones) than among ramets (i.e. among members of the same given clonal genotype). Taken together, our results demonstrate that A. viridis may form associations with a range of symbiotic dinoflagellates and suggest a capacity for horizontal acquisition. A mixed-mode transmission strategy in A. viridis, as we posit here, may help explain the large phenotypic plasticity that characterizes this anemone.

The many faced symbiotic snakelocks anemone (Anemonia viridis, Anthozoa): host and symbiont genetic differentiation among colour morphs.

How can we explain morphological variations in a holobiont? The genetic determinism of phenotypes is not always obvious and could be circumstantial in complex organisms. In symbiotic cnidarians, it is known that morphology or colour can misrepresent a complex genetic and symbiotic diversity. Anemonia viridis is a symbiotic sea anemone from temperate seas. This species displays different colour morphs based on pigment content and lives in a wide geographical range. Here, we investigated whether colour morph differentiation correlated with host genetic diversity or associated symbiotic genetic diversity by using RAD sequencing and symbiotic dinoflagellate typing of 140 sea anemones from the English Channel and the Mediterranean Sea. We did not observe genetic differentiation among colour morphs of A. viridis at the animal host or symbiont level, rejecting the hypothesis that A. viridis colour morphs correspond to species level differences. Interestingly, we however identified at least four independent animal host genetic lineages in A. viridis that differed in their associated symbiont populations. In conclusion, although the functional role of the different morphotypes of A. viridis remains to be determined, our approach provides new insights on the existence of cryptic species within A. viridis.