A microbial perspective on the life-history evolution of marine invertebrate larvae: if, where, and when to feed

Carrier, T. J.; Macrander, J.; Reitzel, A.

doi:10.1101/210989

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bioRxiv · 10.1101/210989

A microbial perspective on the life-history evolution of marine invertebrate larvae: if, where, and when to feed

Carrier, T. J.·Macrander, J.·Reitzel, A.

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Abstract

The feeding environment for planktotrophic larvae has a major impact on development and progression towards competency for metamorphosis. High phytoplankton environments that promote growth often have a greater microbial load and incidence of pathogenic microbes, while areas with lower food availability have a lower number of potential pathogens. Trade-offs between metabolic processes associated with growth and immune functionality have been described throughout the animal kingdom and may influence the life-history evolution of marine invertebrate planktotrophic larvae in these environments. Namely, to avoid potential incidences of microbial-mediated mortality and/or dysbiosis, larvae should regulate time spent between these two feeding environments. We describe here transcriptomic and microbiome data that supports this trade-off in larvae, where larvae in a well-fed environment upregulate genes associated with metabolism and may regularly enter a state of dysbiosis, resulting in mortality. To address the hypothesis that the environmental microbiota is a selective force on if, where, and when planktotrophic larvae should feed, we present a strategy for determining the specific interactions of larvae and microbes at a scale representative of their larger pelagic environment.

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Carrier, T. J., Macrander, J., Reitzel, A.. 2017-10-29. A microbial perspective on the life-history evolution of marine invertebrate larvae: if, where, and when to feed. https://doi.org/10.1101/210989

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