Long-term functional kleptoplasty in benthic foraminifera
Abstract
Foraminifera are highly diverse rhizarian protists, with some lineages having developed the ability to retain chloroplasts from algal prey (kleptoplasty). Recently, we revealed the evolutionary relationship between kleptoplasty and algal symbiosis in the benthic foraminifera Hauerina diversa. In this study, we explored fundamental aspects of host-kleptoplast interactions. The photosynthetic rates of H. diversa show the sequestered kleptoplast activity under a wide range of light intensities with no signs of photoinhibition. This lack of photoinhibition response may be attributed to the loss of key elements responsible for this process during the acquisition of kleptoplasts. Our study demonstrates the stability and notably extended retention of kleptoplasty in H. diversa, evidenced by its plastid retention under conditions of heterotrophic feeding deprivation for 50 days. The host-kleptoplast interactions suggest that H. diversa is highly committed to this partnership and that this kleptoplasty species likely relies on similar kleptoplast/alga maintenance mechanisms as symbiont-bearing foraminifera.
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BibTeX
@article{pinko2026longterm,
title = {{Long-term functional kleptoplasty in benthic foraminifera}},
author = {Doron Pinko and Dewi Langlet and Olha Sur and Filip Husnik and Maria Holzmann and Maxim Rubin-Blum and Eyal Rahav and Natalia Belkin and Michal Kucera and Raphaël Morard and Uri Abdu and Alexander Upcher and Sigal Abramovich},
journal = {iScience},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.1016/j.isci.2025.112028},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05063294v1},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Long-term functional kleptoplasty in benthic foraminifera
AU - Doron Pinko
AU - Dewi Langlet
AU - Olha Sur
AU - Filip Husnik
AU - Maria Holzmann
AU - Maxim Rubin-Blum
AU - Eyal Rahav
AU - Natalia Belkin
AU - Michal Kucera
AU - Raphaël Morard
AU - Uri Abdu
AU - Alexander Upcher
AU - Sigal Abramovich
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/31
JO - iScience
DO - 10.1016/j.isci.2025.112028
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05063294v1
AB - Foraminifera are highly diverse rhizarian protists, with some lineages having developed the ability to retain chloroplasts from algal prey (kleptoplasty). Recently, we revealed the evolutionary relationship between kleptoplasty and algal symbiosis in the benthic foraminifera Hauerina diversa. In this study, we explored fundamental aspects of host-kleptoplast interactions. The photosynthetic rates of H. diversa show the sequestered kleptoplast activity under a wide range of light intensities with no signs of photoinhibition. This lack of photoinhibition response may be attributed to the loss of key elements responsible for this process during the acquisition of kleptoplasts. Our study demonstrates the stability and notably extended retention of kleptoplasty in H. diversa, evidenced by its plastid retention under conditions of heterotrophic feeding deprivation for 50 days. The host-kleptoplast interactions suggest that H. diversa is highly committed to this partnership and that this kleptoplasty species likely relies on similar kleptoplast/alga maintenance mechanisms as symbiont-bearing foraminifera.
SN - 2589-0042
ER -