Abstract
In the present study, we profiled bacterial and archaeal communities from 13 phylogenetically diverse deep-sea sponge species (Demospongiae and Hexactinellida) from the South Pacific by 16S rRNA-gene amplicon sequencing. Additionally, the associated bacteria and archaea were quantified by real-time qPCR. Our results show that bacterial communities from the deep-sea sponges are mostly host-species specific similar to what has been observed for shallow-water demosponges. The archaeal deep-sea sponge community structures are different from the bacterial community structures in that they are almost completely dominated by a single family, which are the ammonia-oxidizing genera within the Nitrosopumilaceae. Remarkably, the archaeal communities are mostly specific to individual sponges (rather than sponge-species), and this observation applies to both hexactinellids and demosponges. Finally, archaeal 16s gene numbers, as detected by quantitative real-time PCR, were up to three orders of magnitude higher than in shallow-water sponges, highlighting the importance of the archaea for deep-sea sponges in general.
Highlights
Marine sponges (Porifera) host a broad range of microorganisms including bacteria, archaea, eukaryotes, and viruses and are considered holobionts (Webster and Thomas, 2016; Pita et al, 2018)
Our present study aims to contribute to resolving spongeprokaryote relationships from understudied habitats by exploring both bacterial and archaeal communities in demosponges and hexactinellids, which were collected from meso, bathypelagic, and abyssal depths in the South Pacific Ocean offshore New Zealand
We address the following questions: (a) are general principles of the Demospongiae microbiota present in Hexactinellida prokaryotic communities, (b) do these sponge-bacterial community principles apply to the archaeal community structures in marine sponges, and (c) can we compare the observed deep-sea sponge microbiota to the tropical/warm water sponge microbiota? In addition to these main questions, which we addressed using two highthroughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing data libraries, we applied quantitative PCR to a subset of the sponge specimens, because quantitative data are frequently missing in sponge microbiome studies
Summary
Marine sponges (Porifera) host a broad range of microorganisms including bacteria, archaea, eukaryotes, and viruses and are considered holobionts (Webster and Thomas, 2016; Pita et al, 2018). The microbial consortia of sponges are represented by diverse prokaryotic communities with ≥ 63 phyla having been found in sponges so far (Thomas et al, 2016; Moitinho-Silva et al, 2017b). These prokaryotic communities show sponge species-specific patterns that differ in richness, diversity, and structure from the prokaryotic seawater communities. The composition of the sponge symbiont consortia is shaped by host taxonomy in that sponge species have species-specific prokaryotic communities (Pita et al, 2013; Easson and Thacker, 2014; Thomas et al, 2016; Steinert et al, 2017; Cárdenas et al, 2019). The global sponge microbiome data revealed further community features, such as the dominance of specialists and generalists within the symbiont communities, a stable core microbiota, and community structure and functional modularity, with abiotic factors influencing the overall sponge microbiota and biotic factors the prokaryotic core (Thomas et al, 2016; Lurgi et al, 2019)
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