Imaging reveals bacterial symbionts in the ovaries of tiny, aquatic crustaceans

By Meghan Willcoxon

WOODS HOLE, Mass. -- Researchers at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) have imaged a heritable form of bacterial symbiosis inside the reproductive system of tiny crustaceans known as ostracods. Led by MBL Whitman Scientist Isa Schön and MBL Research Scientist Scott Chimileski, the study is published this week in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Ostracods, sometimes called seed shrimp, are nearly microscopic, aquatic organisms, inhabiting all types of marine and freshwater environments. Using fluorescence microscopy, the team discovered that bacteria from the genus Cardinium live inside the egg cells and tissues of ostracod ovaries.

In a “true hallmark of endosymbiosis,” said Schön, the bacteria are transmitted from mothers to offspring. These findings suggest that the bacteria manipulate host asexual reproduction.

While symbiosis with bacteria is an emerging research topic for ostracods, endosymbiotic bacteria have been studied intensely in other arthropods, such as insects.

Mosquitos, Chimileski said, are known to harbor endosymbiotic bacteria from the genus Wolbachia. These bacteria are involved in mosquito reproduction, and can be used to curb the spread of mosquito-borne illnesses. By finding a parallel process in ostracods, scientists can investigate endosymbiosis in an aquatic arthropod that makes up a key part of the food web.

A Multi-Year Collaboration

The striking ostracod-bacteria visualizations were the result of a multi-year, multi-lab collaboration between MBL scientists and affiliates.

Schön, a senior scientist at Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, came to the MBL as a Whitman Fellow in 2022 to develop ostracods as a new research organism. This work helps to counteract the fact that most biological research originates from a handful of model organisms such as fruit flies and mice. “There are endless discoveries yet to be made across the biodiverse animal kingdom on this planet,” said Chimileski.

To confirm that symbiotic bacteria are present inside ostracods – and to locate precisely where they may be – the team needed to label the bacteria and use confocal microscopes at the MBL’s Central Microscopy Facility to image the animals at fine, micrometer-size scales. Schön and her colleague, Koen Martens, an evolutionary biologist at Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, teamed up with Chimileski and Jessica Mark Welch of ADA Forsyth Institute to adapt such methods. Chimileski and Mark Welch are microbiologists with expertise in visualizing the spatial patterns of bacteria in the human mouth and other microbiomes.

“This study establishes non-marine ostracods as the first fully aquatic host system for Cardinium and reinforces their value as models for evolutionary research,” said Schön.

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The Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) is dedicated to scientific discovery – exploring fundamental biology, understanding marine biodiversity and the environment, and informing the human condition through research and education. Founded in Woods Hole, Massachusetts in 1888, the MBL is a private, nonprofit institution and an affiliate of the University of Chicago.