High-temperature stress induces bacteria-specific adverse and reversible effects on Ulva (Chlorophyta) growth and its chemosphere in a reductionist model system

Abstract Axenic cultures of the green seaweed Ulva mutabilis were inoculated with bacteria providing essential algal growth and morphogenesis-promoting factors (AGMPFs) and were exposed to temperature shifts from 18 °C to 30 °C. The temperature-dependent effect of bacteria on longitudinal algal growth and the molecular composition of the chemosphere in the algal culture medium was explored. The reductionist tripartite model system of U. mutabilis , Roseovarius sp. MS2, and Maribacter sp. MS6 was applied as a reference and has been changed by substituting Roseovarius with isolates that phenocopy this strain. Rathayibacter festucae IH2 and Roseovarius aestuarii G8 boosted growth at 18 °C but slowed it down at 30 °C. Additional inoculation of Roseovarius sp. MS2 mitigated these adverse bacterial effects partially. At 30 °C, the molecular profile of the chemosphere differed dramatically between all tested tripartite communities, indicating different traits of the same bacterium with changing temperatures. Functional examinations should, therefore, accompany microbiome analysis to detect changing traits with the same microbiome composition.