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A community perspective on the concept of marine holobionts: current status, challenges, and future directions

  • Dittami, Simon M ORCID UMR8227, Sorbonne Université, CNRS, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Roscoff, Brittany, France
  • Arboleda, Enrique ORCID FR2424, Sorbonne Université, CNRS, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Roscoff, Brittany, France
  • Auguet, Jean-Christophe MARBEC, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, IFREMER, IRD, Montpellier, France
  • Bigalke, Arite Institute for Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry, Bioorganic Analytics, Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Jena, Germany
  • Briand, Enora ORCID Laboratoire Phycotoxines, Ifremer, Nantes, France
  • Cardenas, Paco ORCID Pharmacognosy, Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Uppsala Universitet, Uppsala, Sweden
  • Cardini, Ulisse Integrative Marine Ecology Department, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Napoli, Italy
  • Decelle, Johan Laboratoire de Physiologie Cellulaire et Végétale, Université Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, CEA, INRA, Grenoble, France
  • Engelen, Aschwin H ORCID CCMAR, Universidade do Algarve, Faro, Portugal
  • Eveillard, Damien ORCID Laboratoire des Sciences Numériques de Nantes (LS2N), Université de Nantes, CNRS, Nantes, France
  • Gachon, Claire M.M. Scottish Association for Marine Science Scottish Marine Institute, Oban, United Kingdom
  • Griffiths, Sarah M ORCID School of Science and the Environment, The Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, United Kingdom
  • Harder, Tilmann University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany
  • Kayal, Ehsan FR2424, Sorbonne Université, CNRS, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Roscoff, Brittany, France
  • Kazamia, Elena Institut de Biologie, Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France
  • Lallier, François H ORCID Adaptation and Diversity in the Marine Environment, Sorbonne Université, CNRS, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Roscoff, Brittany, France
  • Medina, Mónica Department of Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, USA
  • Marzinelli, Ezequiel ORCID Sydney Institute of Marine Science, Mosman, Australia
  • Morganti, Teresa ORCID Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Bremen, Germany
  • Núñez Pons, Laura Section Biology and Evolution of Marine Organisms (BEOM), Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn (SZN), Napoli, Italy
  • Prado, Soizic Molecules of Communication and Adaptation of Microorganisms (UMR 7245), National Museum of Natural History, CNRS, Paris, France
  • Pintado, José Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas (IIM-CSIC), Vigo, Spain
  • Saha, Mahasweta Marine Ecology and Biodiversity, Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Plymouth, United Kingdom
  • Selosse, Marc-André Faculty of Biology, University of Gdansk, Gdansk, Poland
  • Skillings, Derek Philosophy Department, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA
  • Stock, Willem ORCID Laboratory of Protistology & Aquatic Ecology, Department of Biology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
  • Sunagawa, Shinichi ORCID Department of Biology, Institute of Microbiology and Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
  • Toulza, Eve IHPE UMR 5244, Univ. Perpignan Via Domitia, CNRS, IFREMER, Univ. Montpellier, Perpignan, France
  • Vorobev, Alexey Genoscope, CEA ‐ Institut de Biologie François Jacob, Evry, France
  • Leblanc, Catherine ORCID UMR8227, Sorbonne Université, CNRS, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Roscoff, Brittany, France
  • Not, Fabrice Adaptation and Diversity in the Marine Environment, Sorbonne Université, CNRS, Station Biologique de Roscoff, Roscoff, Brittany, France
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English Host-microbe interactions play crucial roles in marine ecosystems, but we still have very little understanding of the mechanisms that govern these relationships, the evolutionary processes that shape them, and their ecological consequences. The holobiont concept is a renewed paradigm in biology that can help to describe and understand these complex systems. It posits that a host and its associated microbiota, living together in a stable relationship, form the holobiont, and have to be studied together as a coherent biological and functional unit to understand its biology, ecology, and evolution. Here we discuss critical concepts and opportunities in marine holobiont research and identify key challenges in the field. We highlight the potential economic, sociological, and environmental impacts of the holobiont concept in marine biological, evolutionary, and environmental sciences with comparisons to terrestrial sciences where appropriate. Given the connectivity and the unexplored biodiversity specific to marine ecosystems, a deeper understanding of such complex systems requires further technological and conceptual advances, e.g. the development of controlled experimental model systems for holobionts from all major lineages and the modeling of (info)chemical-mediated interactions between organisms. The most significant challenge is to bridge cross-disciplinary research on tractable model systems in order to address key ecological and evolutionary questions. This will be crucial to decipher the roles of marine holobionts in biogeochemical cycles, but also developing concrete applications of the holobiont concept e.g. to increase yield or disease resistance in aquacultures or to protect and restore marine ecosystems through management projects.
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  • English
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https://sonar.ch/global/documents/73336
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