Salinity and Temperature Effects on Physiological Responses of Vibrio fischeri from Diverse Ecological Niches

• Published in: Microbial ecology 2009-01, Vol.57 (1), p.140-150
• Main Authors: Soto, W, Gutierrez, J, Remmenga, M. D, Nishiguchi, M. K
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abiotic factors; Actinopterygii; Aliivibrio fischeri; Aliivibrio fischeri - growth & development; Aliivibrio fischeri - isolation & purification; Aliivibrio fischeri - physiology; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Animals; Bacteriology; Biological and medical sciences; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Cephalopoda; Decapodiformes - classification; Decapodiformes - microbiology; Ecology; Ecosystem; Euprymna; Euprymna berryi; Euprymna morsei; Euprymna tasmanica; Evolution; Fishes - classification; Fishes - microbiology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Geoecology/Natural Processes; Growth kinetics; Life Sciences; Light; Low temperature; Marine; Microbial Ecology; Microbiology; Microbiology of Aquatic Systems; Miscellaneous; Monocentridae; Nature Conservation; Normal microflora of man and animals. Rumen; Original Article; Physiological responses; Salinity; Sea water; Seawater - microbiology; Sepiola; Sepiolidae; Sodium chloride; Species Specificity; Squid; Symbionts; Symbiosis; Synergistic effect; Temperature; Temperature effects; Vibrio; Vibrio fischeri; Water Quality/Water Pollution
• ISSN: 0095-3628; 1432-184X
• DOI: 10.1007/s00248-008-9412-9

Vibrio fischeri is a bioluminescent bacterial symbiont of sepiolid squids (Cephalopoda: Sepiolidae) and monocentrid fishes (Actinopterygii: Monocentridae). V. fischeri exhibit competitive dominance within the allopatrically distributed squid genus Euprymna, which have led to the evolution of V. fischeri host specialists. In contrast, the host genus Sepiola contains sympatric species that is thought to have given rise to V. fischeri that have evolved as host generalists. Given that these ecological lifestyles may have a direct effect upon the growth spectrum and survival limits in contrasting environments, optimal growth ranges were obtained for numerous V. fischeri isolates from both free-living and host environments. Upper and lower limits of growth were observed in sodium chloride concentrations ranging from 0.0% to 9.0%. Sepiola symbiotic isolates possessed the least variation in growth throughout the entire salinity gradient, whereas isolates from Euprymna were the least uniform at 5.0% NaCl. Growth kinetics of symbiotic V. fischeri strains were also measured under a range of salinity and temperature combinations. Symbiotic V. fischeri ES114 and ET101 exhibited a synergistic effect for salinity and temperature, where significant differences in growth rates due to salinity existed only at low temperatures. Thus, abiotic factors such as temperature and salinity have differential effects between free-living and symbiotic strains of V. fischeri, which may alter colonization efficiency prior to infection.