Mapping carbon fate during bleaching in a model cnidarian symbiosis: the application of13C metabolomics

What is it about?

Thermal stress leads to the breakdown of the coral symbiosis (coral bleaching), yet we understand little of how this stressor affects the exchange of nutrients between symbiotic partners, which is critical to the success of these systems. We show that despite the costs of acclimating to thermal stress, remaining algal symbionts in a model cnidarian-dinoflagellate symbiosis continue to provide organic mobile products to their hosts.

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