Articles | Volume 22, issue 17
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-4545-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-4545-2025
Research article
 | 
11 Sep 2025
Research article |  | 11 Sep 2025

The microbiome of the Arctic planktonic foraminifera Neogloboquadrina pachyderma is composed of fermenting and carbohydrate-degrading bacteria and an intracellular diatom chloroplast store

Clare Bird, Kate Darling, Rabecca Thiessen, and Anna J. Pieńkowski

Data sets

Baffin Bay foraminifera 16S metabarcoding ASV table, sequences and metadata Clare Bird https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.28915598

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Short summary
The polar planktonic foraminifer Neogloboquadrina pachyderma eats diatoms. Unlike other planktonic species, it also keeps the diatom chloroplasts (photosynthesising organelles) inside its cell. In benthic foraminifera, this is known as kleptoplasty, and the roles of these stolen chloroplasts are diverse. Their role in N. pachyderma needs to be investigated to find out if stored chloroplasts enable N. pachyderma to live in polar waters and under the ice, where no other planktonic species survive.
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