We are very happy and proud to announce a new publication of the team “Sweet and Fatty symbionts” led by PhD Andrea Catacora Grundy published in PNAS journal, showing the morphological and metabolic transformation of a symbiotic microalga inside a host (Chlorella-Paramecium symbiosis) at different time of the day, using a multiscale approach (from 3D electron microscopy, nanoSIMS, biochemistry to transcriptomics).

Photosynthetic productivity and carbon storage are boosted in symbiotic microalgae but carbon transfer to the host remains a mystery.

Article in PNAS here: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2513679123

News by CNRS: https://www.insb.cnrs.fr/fr/cnrsinfo/la-vie-en-symbiose-transforme-profondement-le-metabolisme-des-microalgues

We are very grateful to all coauthors of the team (former and present members: Fabien Chevalier, Caroline Juery, Marie Pavie, Daniel Yee, Charlotte LeKieffre) and collaborators of this 5-year work, especially Pierre-Henri Jouneau from CEA-Irig and Yannick Schwab at EMBL Heidelberg for the FIB-SEM imaging, Gilles Curien from “Photosynthesis” team from LPCV lab, and Benoit Gallet from Institut de Biologie Structurale (IBS), and reviewers who greatly improved the manuscript.

Thanks to our funders who supported this work: GRAL – the Grenoble Alliance for Integrated Structural & Cell Biology, European Research Council (ERC consolidator SymbiOCEAN), and ATIP CNRS

and big congratulations to Andrea C Grundy for this impressive work!