Symbiotic bacteria contribute to increasing the population size of a freshwater crustacean, Daphnia magna

Abstract

The filter-feeding crustacean Daphnia is a key organism in freshwater ecosystems. Here, we report the effect of symbiotic bacteria on ecologically important life history traits, such as population dynamics and longevity, in Daphnia magna. By disinfection of the daphniid embryos with glutaraldehyde, aposymbiotic daphniids were prepared and cultured under bacteria-free conditions. Removal of bacteria from the daphniids was monitored by quantitative polymerase chain reaction for bacterial 16S rRNA gene. The population of aposymbiotic daphniids was reduced 10-folds compared with that of the control daphniids. Importantly, re-infection with symbiotic bacteria caused daphniids to regain bacteria and increase their fecundity to the level of the control daphniids, suggesting that symbiotic bacteria regulate Daphnia fecundity. To identify the species of symbiotic bacteria, 16S rRNA genes of bacteria in daphniids were sequenced. This revealed that 50% of sequences belonged to the Limnohabitans sp. of the Betaproteobacteria class and that the diversity of bacterial taxa was relatively low. These results suggested that symbiotic bacteria have a beneficial effect on D. magna, and that aposymbiotic Daphnia are useful tools in understanding the role of symbiotic bacteria in the environmental responses and evolution of their hosts.