Figures
The Hawaiian bobtail squid is an established model system for the study of the colonization of epithelia by bacterial symbionts.
The image shows the squid Euprymna scolopes swimming in the water column. This species, which is a night-active predator in the shallow sand flats of the Hawaiian archipelago, uses the light produced by its luminous bacterial symbiont, Vibrio fischeri, as a camouflage. Much like the microbiota of the human gut, the squid's bioluminescent partner is acquired anew each generation and resides extracellularly along the surface of epithelial tissues. The relationship between E. scolopes and V. fischeri has been studied for over 25 years as a model for the establishment and maintenance of animal-bacterial symbioses. See McFall-Ngai.
Image Credit: Chris Frazee and Margaret McFall-Ngai
Citation: (2014) PLoS Biology Issue Image | Vol. 12(2) February 2014. PLoS Biol 12(2): ev12.i02. https://doi.org/10.1371/image.pbio.v12.i02
Published: February 25, 2014
Copyright: © 2014 McFall-Ngai. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
The image shows the squid Euprymna scolopes swimming in the water column. This species, which is a night-active predator in the shallow sand flats of the Hawaiian archipelago, uses the light produced by its luminous bacterial symbiont, Vibrio fischeri, as a camouflage. Much like the microbiota of the human gut, the squid's bioluminescent partner is acquired anew each generation and resides extracellularly along the surface of epithelial tissues. The relationship between E. scolopes and V. fischeri has been studied for over 25 years as a model for the establishment and maintenance of animal-bacterial symbioses. See McFall-Ngai.
Image Credit: Chris Frazee and Margaret McFall-Ngai