Cellular events in the reestablishment of a symbiosis between a marine dinoflagellate and a coelenterate

Summary

Within 24 h after the initial phagocytotic uptake of freshly isolated (from host tissue) symbiotic algae (Symbiodinium microadriaticum) by the endodermal cells of the polyp (scyphistoma) stage of the jellyfish Cassiopeia xamachana, the algal population was observed to decline despite evidence of algal cell division. Analyses of the frequency of phago-lysosome fusion as an indicator of possible attempts of the host to digest the algae indicated that, although phago-lysosome fusion did occur, the low frequency of occurrence is inconsistent with the interpretation that the animals digested the algae. Animal cell lysosomes were located predominantly at the apices of the endodermal cells, and the symbiotic algae were transported toward the bases of the endodermal cells.

Within 3 days after initial infection, most endodermal cells with algae ceased to be phagocytotically active (with respect to the uptake of carmine particles). Many of these endodermal cells soon migrated into the mesoglea to become what are traditionally referred to as “amoebocytes”. Within amoebocytes the algae proliferated. The onset of strobilation by the scyphistomae was directly correlated with the increase in the algal population within these amoebocytes.