Planctomycetes and macroalgae, a striking association

Abstract

Planctomycetes are part of the complex microbial biofilm community of a wide range of macroalgae. Recently, some studies began to unveil the great diversity of Planctomycetes present in this microenvironment and the interactions between the two organisms. Culture dependent and independent methods revealed the existence of a great number of species but, so far, only less than 10 species have been isolated. Planctomycetes comprise the genera Rhodopirellula, Blastopirellula, and Planctomyces, Phycisphaera and the uncultured class OM190 and some other taxa have only been found in this association. Several factors favor the colonization of macroalgal surfaces by planctomycetes. Many species possess holdfasts for attachment. The macroalgae secrete various sulfated polysaccharides that are the substrate for the abundant sulfatases produced by planctomycetes. Specificity between planctomycetes and macroalgae seem to exist which may be related to the chemical nature of the polysaccharides produced by each macroalga. Furthermore, the peptidoglycan-free cell wall of planctomycetes allows them to resist the action of several antimicrobial compounds produced by the macroalgae or other bacteria in the biofilm community that are effective against biofouling by other microorganisms. Despite the increase in our knowledge on the successful planctomycetes-macroalgae association, a great effort to fully understand this interaction is needed.

Keywords: association; biofilm; macroalgae; macroalgae exudates; planctomycetes.

Figure 1

Maximum-Likelihood tree of 16S rRNA gene sequences of planctomycetes associated with macroalgae downloaded from NCBI database. The final set consisted of 116 sequences above 500 bp. Strains in bold represent the isolates from macroalgae described to date. The numbers beside nodes are the percentages for bootstrap analyses; only values above 50% are shown. Scale bar = 0.02 substitutions per 100 nucleotides. The different groups are presented on the right. Anammox 16S rRNA gene sequences were used as outgroup.