Light Availability Affects the Symbiosis of Sponge Specific Cyanobacteria and the Common Blue Aquarium Sponge (Lendenfeldia chondrodes)

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Marine sponges contain associated microorganisms in high numbers. This study gives insight into how environmental conditions such as light availability affects the symbiotic relationship between phototrophic bacteria that obtain energy from sunlight for the synthesis of organic compounds and the marine host in which they are found. A controlled aquarium experiment with defined light levels ranging from darkness to higher light intensity demonstrates how light conditions change the number of these bacteria and, consequently, host performance. Sponge growth performance was significantly affected by the number of these bacteria. Moreover, the common blue aquarium sponge Lendenfeldia chondrodes has proven to be perfectly suited as a model organism to study marine host-symbiont interactions. ABSTRACT: Bacterial symbionts in marine sponges play a decisive role in the biological and ecological functioning of their hosts. Although this topic has been the focus of numerous studies, data from experiments under controlled conditions are rare. To analyze the ongoing metabolic processes, we investigated the symbiosis of the sponge specific cyanobacterium Synechococcus spongiarum and its sponge host Lendenfeldia chondrodes under varying light conditions in a defined aquarium setting for 68 days. Sponge clonal pieces were kept at four different light intensities, ranging from no light to higher intensities that were assumed to trigger light stress. Growth as a measure of host performance and photosynthetic yield as a proxy of symbiont photosynthetic activity were measured throughout the experiment. The lack of light prevented sponge growth and induced the expulsion of all cyanobacteria and related pigments by the end of the experiment. Higher light conditions allowed rapid sponge growth and high cyanobacteria densities. In addition, photosynthetically active radiation above a certain level triggered an increase in cyanobacteria’s lutein levels, a UV absorbing protein, thus protecting itself and the host’s cells from UV radiation damage. Thus, L. chondrodes seems to benefit strongly from hosting the cyanbacterium S. spongiarum and the relationship should be considered obligatory mutualistic.