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Applied and Environmental Microbiology, August 2000, p. 3550-3555, Vol. 66, No. 8
Department of Biology, New Mexico State
University, Las Cruces, New Mexico 88003-8001
Received 17 March 2000/Accepted 13 May 2000
The genus Sepiola (Cephalopoda: Sepiolidae) contains 10 known species that occur in the Mediterranean Sea today. All
Sepiola species have a light organ that contains at least
one of two species of luminous bacteria, Vibrio fischeri
and Vibrio logei. The two Vibrio species
coexist in at least four Sepiola species (S. affinis, S. intermedia, S. ligulata, and
S. robusta), and their concentrations in the light organ
depend on changes in certain abiotic factors, including temperature.
Strains of V. fischeri grew faster in vitro and in
Sepiola juveniles when they were incubated at 26°C. In contrast, strains of V. logei grew faster at 18°C in
culture and in Sepiola juveniles. When aposymbiotic
S. affinis or S. ligulata juveniles were
inoculated with one Vibrio species, all strains of V. fischeri and V. logei were capable of infecting both
squid species at the optimum growth temperatures, regardless of the squid host from which the bacteria were initially isolated. However, when two different strains of V. fischeri and V. logei were placed in direct competition with each other at either
18 or 26°C, strains of V. fischeri were present in
sepiolid light organs in greater concentrations at 26°C, whereas
strains of V. logei were present in greater concentrations
at 18°C. In addition to the competition experiments, the ratios of
the two bacterial species in adult Sepiola specimens caught
throughout the season at various depths differed, and these differences
were correlated with the temperature in the surrounding environment. My
findings contribute additional data concerning the ecological and
environmental factors that affect host-symbiont recognition and may
provide insight into the evolution of animal-bacterium specificity.
0099-2240/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Temperature Affects Species Distribution in
Symbiotic Populations of Vibrio spp.
*
Mailing address: Department of Biology, New Mexico
State University, Box 30001, MSC 3AF, Las Cruces, NM 88003-8001. Phone: (505) 646-3721. Fax: (505) 646-5665. E-mail: nish{at}nmsu.edu.
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