About the Authors

Maryam Yazdani Foshtomi

Maryam.YazdaniFoshtomi@Ugent.be

Current address: Iranian National Institute for Oceanography and Atmospheric Science, Tehran, Iran

Affiliations Marine Biology Research Group, Biology Department, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium, CeMoFE, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

Ulrike Braeckman

Affiliation Marine Biology Research Group, Biology Department, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

Sofie Derycke

Current address: OD Taxonomy and Phylogeny, Royal Belgian Institute for Natural Sciences, Brussels, Belgium

Affiliation Marine Biology Research Group, Biology Department, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

Melanie Sapp

Affiliation The Food and Environment Research Agency, Sand Hutton, York, United Kingdom

Dirk Van Gansbeke

Affiliation Marine Biology Research Group, Biology Department, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

Koen Sabbe

Affiliation Laboratory of Protistology and Aquatic Ecology, Department of Biology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

Anne Willems

Affiliations CeMoFE, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium, Laboratory of Microbiology, Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

Magda Vincx

Affiliation Marine Biology Research Group, Biology Department, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

Jan Vanaverbeke

Affiliation Marine Biology Research Group, Biology Department, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium

Competing Interests

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: UB JV. Performed the experiments: MYF SD MS JV. Analyzed the data: MYF UB KS JV. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: MYF UB SD DVG KS AW MV JV. Wrote the paper: MYF UB SD MS KS AW MV JV.