Fig. 1. Dynamics of bacterial uptake and growth of diplonemids.

A Growth curves of Diplonema japonicum and Rhynchopus humris cultured in either the nutrient-rich Hemi medium (turquoise), artificial seawater (ASW) supplemented with FLB [7–9 × 10⁶ cells/ml] (maroon), or nutrient-free ASW (bright green). Values are means for triplicates, and the error bars show SDs. Open symbols in FLB and Hemi curves indicate significantly different values (T-test, P < 0.05). The insets show the exponential decay of FLB. B Growth rates of D. japonicum (blue) and R. humris (orange) represented as the best-fit lines.