Magnetoreception in a freshwater ciliate arises from endosymbiosis

Abstract

Abstract Magnetoreception is a remarkable ability found across a diverse range of organisms, including bacteria, birds, fish, insects, and mammals, enabling them to detect and harness the Earth’s geomagnetic field. Recently, the recruitment of biomineralizing ectosymbionts by euglenozoans was evidenced as an ecological strategy for microeukaryotes to acquire this sense. Here, we report a case of magnetosymbiosis involving a ciliate and four populations of endosymbiotic bacteria experiencing genome reduction. Among these bacteria, one group of sulphate-reducing Desulfovibrionales was found to biomineralize bundles of bullet-shaped magnetite crystals. The ciliate’s magnetotaxis mirrors that of free-living magnetotactic bacteria and euglenozoans, enabling efficient navigation in chemically stratified aquatic environments. However, in this case, magnetotaxis arises from an endosymbiotic interaction. Using a combination of optical-, confocal-, electron- and X-ray-based microscopy techniques, together with genomic analyses, these findings demonstrate that magnetosymbiosis can emerge in unicellular eukaryotic lineages through endosymbiotic integration, expanding our understanding of such interactions in aquatic ecosystems. More broadly, this work contributes to the ongoing debate on the origins of magnetoreception in eukaryotes.