Taxonomic assignment of algal endosymbionts from Amphistegina gibbosa and Amphistegina lessonii exposed to heat stress.. Identifying foram endosymbionts

Two foraminifera host species collected at different water depths were exposed to chronic or episodic heat stress in the laboratory for 30 days. Specimens were sampled before and after the experiment. Sanger sequencing was applied to gain insights into the symbiont species composition. Amplification of a 442 bp fragment at the 3’ end of the 18S rDNA of Amphistegina photosymbionts was done using the 18S primers SymFS1 and 1528R. The resulting PCR products were either directly sequenced or cloned before sequencing.