Algal symbiosis adaptively restructures the cnidarian microbiome to enhance holobiont metabolism.

Symbiosis with photosynthetic dinoflagellates in Aiptasia adaptively restructures the tissue microbiome, strongly upregulating microbial nitrite reductase in the symbiotic gastrodermis.

• Why it matters: Microbial roles in cnidarian holobiont function are known, but how microbial communities integrate across host tissues and functions during symbiosis is unclear.
• What they did: The study used laser microdissection, tissue-resolved metatranscriptomics, gnotobiotic hosts, and 15N stable isotope tracing to map microbiome and nitrogen-assimilation activity in epidermis versus gastrodermis.
• The result: Symbiosis enriches nitrogen-assimilation taxa and pathways in photosynthetically active tissues, and 15N tracer experiments show bacterial nitrite assimilation synergizes with algal symbionts to support essential amino acid biosynthesis.

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