Abstract
Photosymbiotic associations between heterotrophic hosts and photosynthetic algae play crucial roles in maintaining the trophic and structural integrity of marine ecosystems. This relationship has independently evolved in diverse eukaryotic lineages including sponges, corals, and bivalves. However, the basic biology of photosymbioses and their evolutionary implications are not well-understood. In this talk, I will use a representative photosymbiotic bivalve group to investigate the partners’ ecological and molecular adaptation to the photosymbiotic lifestyle. I will demonstrate that light availability play an important role in shaping the hosts’ morphological adaptation, energy update, symbiont composition, and genomic evolution.