title: Menthol-induced bleaching rapidly and effectively provides experimental aposymbiotic sea anemones (Aiptasia sp.) for symbiosis investigations.
abstract: Experimental manipulation of the symbiosis between cnidarians and photosynthetic dinoflagellates (Symbiodinium spp.) is crucial to advancing the understanding of the cellular mechanisms involved in host-symbiont interactions, and overall coral reef ecology. The anemone Aiptasia sp. is a model for cnidarian-dinoflagellate symbiosis, and notably it can be rendered aposymbiotic (i.e. dinoflagellate-free) and re-infected with a range of Symbiodinium types. Various methods exist for generating aposymbiotic hosts; however, they can be hugely time consuming and not wholly effective. Here, we optimise a method using menthol for production of aposymbiotic Aiptasia. The menthol treatment produced aposymbiotic hosts within just 4 weeks (97-100% symbiont loss), and the condition was maintained long after treatment when anemones were held under a standard light:dark cycle. The ability of Aiptasia to form a stable symbiosis appeared to be unaffected by menthol exposure, as demonstrated by successful re-establishment of the symbiosis when anemones were experimentally re-infected. Furthermore, there was no significant impact on photosynthetic or respiratory performance of re-infected anemones.
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington 6140, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Jennifer L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Matthews
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington 6140, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Ashley E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Sproles
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington 6140, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Clinton A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Oakley
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Biology, The Carnegie Institution, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
authors.forename: Arthur R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Grossman
authors.affiliation: Oregon State University, Department of Integrative Biology, 3029 Cordley Hall, Corvallis, OR 97331, USA.
authors.forename: Virginia M
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Weis
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington 6140, New Zealand Simon.Davy@vuw.ac.nz.
authors.forename: Simon K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Davy
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D057894:Coral Reefs; D004141:Dinoflagellida / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D008610:Menthol / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010788:Photosynthesis; D010827:Physiology / Q000379:methods*; D012615:Sea Anemones / Q000502:physiology*; D013559:Symbiosis / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D008610:Menthol
keywords: Cnidarian–dinoflagellate symbiosis; Coral reefs; Symbiodinium