Physiological diversity among sympatric, conspecific endosymbionts of coral (Cladocopium C1acro) from the Great Barrier Reef

Strains of the common coral endosymbiont, Cladocopium C1acro were isolated from four Acropora corals collected from inshore sites on the Great Barrier Reef (Nelly Bay, Magnetic Island, and South Molle Island in the Whitsunday Islands). Colonies of Accropora Tenuis and Acropora millepora were growing at similar depths and photic habitats, between `~3-4m.Before the culturing of the symbionts, freshly isolated cells from the host were genotyped. Clonal cultures were established using methods described in Beltrán, et.al. (2021).For the generation of clonal cultures, two methods were used. Three of the four clonal cultures (Aten-MI-1, Aten-WSY, and Amil-MI) were obtained after plating the heterogeneous population onto IMK − 1% agar plus antibiotics and incubating them under the conditions as above and picking a single colony-forming unit. The fourth clonal culture (Aten-MI-2) was produced from a single cell isolated using a micro-manipulator (MN-153, Narishige) under an inverted microscope at 20X magnification (Leica DM IRB/E, Germany).DNA was extracted from exponentially growing culture and sequence data from the chloroplast marker were deposited at the genbank with the accession numbers MW691103-06 for Aten-MI-2, Aten-MI-1, Amil-MI and Aten-WSY, respectively.Genetic characterisation of Symbiodiniaceae cultures and growth kinetics were compared under different thermal scenarios. After ~ 30 days incubation, four replicates of each strain were selleted and divided over 16 tubes. For full details, see Beltran et al., (2021).