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del Campo Lab @delcampolab.bsky.social · 2d

Thank you everyone for a great congress!🦠🌊😊 @same18-bcn.bsky.social

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del Campo Lab @delcampolab.bsky.social · 2d

. @joanakrause.bsky.social gave a presentation on her project “Describing the diversity and global distribution of plastid-bearing coral symbionts re-using published microbiome data”

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del Campo Lab @delcampolab.bsky.social · 2d

. @rociomozo.bsky.social presented a poster on “Phylogenomics of Coral Photosymbionts and their Free-Living Relatives” (her Master’s project)

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del Campo Lab @delcampolab.bsky.social · 2d

We had a great time last week at @same18-bcn.bsky.social in Barcelona!

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Javier del Campo @fonamental.bsky.social · Aug 8

Your students arrive in Curaçao earlier than you and say: We are bored. Can we do that extra diel cycle sampling that we talked about 🤔 ?

Your only answer as a PI: Sure 😬

The outcome? Sleep-deprived students and an excellent work on the #coral holobiont rhythmicity 🪸🦠⏰

#symbiosis #microbiome

Brad Weiler, Ph.D. @bradweilerdives.bsky.social · Aug 7

🚨New Preprint Alert🚨 P. strigosa, a reef-building coral shows tightly regulated transcriptional control over natural diel cycles. #CoralReefs #Symbiosky #bioinformatics #marinemicrobes #protistsonsky www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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Brad Weiler, Ph.D. @bradweilerdives.bsky.social · Aug 7

This effort was a 'tour de force' only made possible by my incredible lab @ambonacolta.bsky.social and @fonamental.bsky.social. Absolutely thrilled to get this part of my Ph.D. dissertation out, thank you everyone involved!

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Brad Weiler, Ph.D. @bradweilerdives.bsky.social · Aug 7

Lastly, we explored microbiome structure 🦠 through time. Broadly, the microbial composition is largely stable through time, with notable taxon-specific changes through day/night light cycles. During the day carbohydrate catabolizers show enrichment, while night hours feature methylotrophs.

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Brad Weiler, Ph.D. @bradweilerdives.bsky.social · Aug 7

Similar to the host, the symbiont Breviolum showed diel regulated transcription, although more subtle. Time-specific functions were recovered, showing metabolite transfer and nitrogen/carbohydrate metabolism through daytime, while cellular division and reorganization/turnover during the dark hours.

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Reposted by del Campo Lab

Brad Weiler, Ph.D. @bradweilerdives.bsky.social · Aug 7

In the coral host, we observed dawn as a molecular surge in RNA metabolism 🧬, midday exhibits high phosphate regulation 🔋, dusk reflects lipid & amino acid metabolism ♻️, and midnight shows mRNA catabolism & mitochondrial reorganization 🗂️. Most striking, we recovered ~30% transcripts as rhythmic.

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Reposted by del Campo Lab

Brad Weiler, Ph.D. @bradweilerdives.bsky.social · Aug 7

🚨New Preprint Alert🚨 P. strigosa, a reef-building coral shows tightly regulated transcriptional control over natural diel cycles. #CoralReefs #Symbiosky #bioinformatics #marinemicrobes #protistsonsky www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

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Reposted by del Campo Lab

Blanca Figuerola @bfiguerola.bsky.social · Jul 31

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Huge thanks to this amazing team! @fonamental.bsky.social @polcapdevila.bsky.social @elpiratavell.bsky.social @medrecover.bsky.social over.bsky.social @icmcsic.bsky.social @szndohrn.bsky.social @ub.edu @ibe-barcelona.bsky.social
#MedCalRes @ageinves.bsky.social @cienciagob.bsky.social

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Blanca Figuerola @bfiguerola.bsky.social · Jul 31

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Bryozoans are key habitat-formers, yet often overlooked in climate research.
Our work shows they’re at risk under future ocean conditions.
🌊 We need more long-term, multi-stressor studies in natural settings. Stay tuned for the ongoing HOLOCHANGE and MedAcidWarm projects!

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Reposted by del Campo Lab

Blanca Figuerola @bfiguerola.bsky.social · Jul 31

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This is the first study to document long-term microbiome and skeletal responses to combined ocean acidification & warming in bryozoans in the wild.
We reveal:
✅ Complex, species-specific strategies
⚠️ Signs of vulnerability under future ocean conditions

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Reposted by del Campo Lab

Blanca Figuerola @bfiguerola.bsky.social · Jul 31

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What about long-term effects?
We monitored Pentapora populations over 5 years:
📉 Bryozoan cover declined
☠️ Necrosis increased
🌡️ Warming & acidification together accelerated mortality

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Reposted by del Campo Lab

Blanca Figuerola @bfiguerola.bsky.social · Jul 31

6/
But not all are good news...
We also observed:
📉 Loss of key microbial genera
☠️Rise of opportunists & anaerobes
These microbial shifts may signal early dysbiosis — an early warning of declining host health.

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Reposted by del Campo Lab

Blanca Figuerola @bfiguerola.bsky.social · Jul 31

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🦠 Microbial communities:
We found species-specific core microbiomes, conserved across both pH conditions.
This stability suggests potential acclimatization capacity in both species despite environmental stress.

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Reposted by del Campo Lab

Blanca Figuerola @bfiguerola.bsky.social · Jul 31

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🧱 Mineral & skeletal structure:
The two species showed opposing strategies to low pH.
🦪 P. ottomuelleriana reduced Mg-calcite & zooid volume
🪸 M. truncata thickened its skeleton
→ Different energy trade-offs to maintain calcification under stress

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Reposted by del Campo Lab

Blanca Figuerola @bfiguerola.bsky.social · Jul 31

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We focused on two species:
🦪 Pentapora ottomuelleriana (fast-growing, encrusting)
🪸 Myriapora truncata (slow-growing, erect)
They naturally occur inside & outside a Mediterranean CO₂ vent. 🌋
We also used 3D micro-CT scans to visualize how their skeletons change.

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Blanca Figuerola @bfiguerola.bsky.social · Jul 31

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Why bryozoans?
🪸 They build reef-like structures
🌍 They're widespread + ecologically important
🦠 But largely understudied—especially their microbiomes!
We studied them at a volcanic CO₂ vent & a control site in Ischia Island, a "time machine" for future oceans.

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Reposted by del Campo Lab

Blanca Figuerola @bfiguerola.bsky.social · Jul 31

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Our new paper is out today in @commsbio.nature.com @natureportfolio.nature.com 🚨

🔗https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-025-08524-8

We studied how two Mediterranean bryozoan species respond to ocean acidification & warming using a natural underwater CO₂ vent as a climate change lab. 🌊🧫
🧵⬇️

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del Campo Lab @delcampolab.bsky.social · Jul 24

Check the articles that were sourced in this thread:

doi.org/10.1007/s126...
doi.org/10.1007/s101...

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del Campo Lab @delcampolab.bsky.social · Jul 24

That’s all for our acid-loving protist of the week. It truly exemplifies everything heavy metal is about: the power of friendship (or in other words, holobionts). Gather with us for the next #MidweekMicrobe, just like microbes in biofilms! lml 🦠 🍄 🧫

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del Campo Lab @delcampolab.bsky.social · Jul 24

Notably, an isolate from an AMD site in Canada was found to boost its tolerance to low pH by associating with an antibiotic-producing fungus and an acidophilic bacterium — forming a truly heavy-metal holobiont known as the FAB (fungus, alga, bacterium) consortium.

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del Campo Lab @delcampolab.bsky.social · Jul 24

Some of the mechanisms this alga uses to cope with heavy metals include supplementation of chlorophyll with other divalent cations (in place of Mg²⁺), and internal compartmentalization via precipitation or granule formation.

📷 Adapted from Brake et al.

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del Campo Lab @delcampolab.bsky.social · Jul 24

In addition to being a bioindicator for AMD, E. mutabilis has been reported to grow in biofilms that trap contaminants and help precipitate them into iron-rich stromatolites, limiting their spread downstream.

📷 Adapted from Brake et al.

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